Since my last book review in July, I’ve not found the time, focus, or motivation to blog about an inspiring read.
All that changed last week when I started reading Johann Hari‘s 2022 book Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. I actually stumbled upon this book while researching a recent blog post where I spoke about where to place our attention and focus this year.
If ever there was a book (aside from the Bible of course) that packed so much info it ought in fact to be several books rather than one, Stolen Focus is that book!
Says The Telegraph, “If you read just one book about how the modern world is driving us crazy, read this one.”
Oprah Winfrey says this book is “…exactly what the world needs right now . . . Worth your time and certainly worth your focus”
So what exactly is Stolen Focus about?
Synopsis of “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention”
By way of introduction, below’s a selection of this book’s Content Page that focuses on the 12 causes (according to the author) of our stolen attention:
1. Increase in Speed and Filtering
2. The Crippling of our Flow State
3. The Rise of Physical & Mental Exhaustion
4. The Collapse of Sustained Reading
5. The Disruption of Mind-Wandering
6. The Rise of Technology That Can Track & Manipulate You
7. The Rise of Cruel Optimism
8. The Surge in Stress & How It Is Triggering Vigilance
9. Our Deteriorating Diets
10. Rising Pollution
11. Rise of ADHD & How We Are Responding To It
12. The Confinement of Our Children, Both Physically & Psychologically
Honestly, I believe each of these 12 causes author Hari expounds on can be a book in itself! For as I plough through each chapter, tons of insight and research can be seen packed and painstakingly stitched into every line and paragraph. It helped on many pages that the author wrote from a place of personal struggle with his own lost focus and attention. That always rings a chord with me, when writers show vulnerability and state upfront they don’t have all the answers.
Unlike the tons of humble-bragging DIY/self-help books that flood the market every year.
Don’t Worry. I Will Only Focus On Two Causes. Not ALL 12!
Now it would be insane for me to attempt a breakdown here of each of these 12 causes so don’t worry. I won’t. Plus, despite my overall optimism about the substance of the book, I’m not 100% sold on every one of these 12 causes. To say for instance that bad diets and pollution “steal focus” might sound like grabbing at straws just to stretch out a book to a decent size worthy of appearing on next month’s bestseller list.
Nevertheless, I will of course mention about a couple of the causes he listed that’s gotten me thinking more.
But first, a bit of background about the author Johann Hari. It might take you by surprise.
As it did me!
About The Author — Johann Hari
Johann Hari was born in 1979 in Britain. He’s written a few books including Chasing The Scream, Lost Connections, and Magic Pill. Hari was a former columnist and writer with The Independent until his dismissal in 2011 for, get this…
…plagiarism and misrepresentation!
Okay I hear you. Why on earth would I still post a book review by an author who’s known for these and been roundly dismissed by many? I wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading at this point and direct your focus elsewhere. If I were you, I might do so as well.
But before you leave, hear me out.
There are four reasons I am still going ahead to review his book
Reason #1
I actually only found out about his sordid past while I was writing this “About The Author” section. My immediate thought was to drop this post altogether. It doesn’t seem right to blog about someone with a dubious track record for accuracy and truth. It speaks to my own careless oversight, and you might even wonder if there are other reviews I’ve done before that were equally suspect.
Reason #2
If the world of publishing, including the likes of established publishing houses like Bloomsbury would deign to still publish Hari even after the scandal, I think I’m prepared to give him another chance too. Besides, the old adage “take it with a pinch of salt” has never been more relevant than it is now in this fake news saturated world we live in. You almost have to accept that practically everything you read will contain some margin of error (deliberate or accidental). Doesn’t mean you (borrowing yet another old adage) “throw the baby out with the bath water”. Especially if it involves a cause or mission you believe in strongly.
Why shoot the message because of the messenger?
Reason #3
Hari’s been more careful since to ensure transparency and public access to (audio) sources of his information-gathering and research. As a way to avoid further controversy and accusation of shady reporting.
Reason #4
While there are other similar books written on the subject, like Gloria Mark’s Attention Span (which I briefly mentioned towards the end of an old post I wrote last September), Hari’s writing voice is far more compelling, and I would say, more urgent.
Which is how I am approaching the topic of attention in this new year myself (as spelled out in my post two weeks ago).
So with that said, let me plunge back into the book and review a couple of his 12 causes for our lost focus that I think warrants our attention.
Cause #6 — Big Tech Wants Us Angry At All Times!
It’s now 2025 so this fact really shouldn’t come as a surprise — Big tech companies that provide us with all our swanky digital gadgets that let’s us access the world wide web 24/7, knows us better than we do!
And yet, going by how reliant we all are on our devices on a daily basis, you would be forgiven for thinking that no one believes their privacy has been roundly invaded against their will. The way we each keep turning to our devices every waking moment is nothing short of astounding.
One study even claims that on average, people pick up their phones at least 58 times a day!
I think the number is most likely higher.
In Chapters Six and Seven of the book, author Hari talks about the devious ways technology tracks us and our daily habits and routines. One key source of his info comes from the founders of the Center for Humane Technology Tristan Harris (former Design Ethicist at Google) and Aza Raskin (founder of the Earth Species Project) who have been speaking out for years about how Big Tech has manipulated our attention without our knowledge and permission, and made us increasingly addicted to our devices. (I’ve been following the pair for some time and highly recommend readers check them out. For a start, check out their Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma (2020). You can also catch them on Ted Talk as well as other presentations they’ve given like their talk on the AI Dilemma in 2023)
The More Inflammatory The Better!
One of the interesting highlights of the two chapters covering Cause #6 is this: Big Tech algorithms that are designed to find ways and means to keep our eyeballs constantly on screens, knows that it is outrageous and inflammatory news and information that better hold and grip the attention of users, compared to calm and happy stuff. As Hari puts it, this is an unfortunate “quirk of human behaviour” that algorithms capitalise on.
People are wired by nature to stare longer at a car wreck than someone handing out flowers on the road. Or in a room full of faces, a speaker will instinctively notice the unhappy, angry faces first. (As an educator for over two decades, I can definitely vouch for that!)
Talk about a sure-fire recipe for an unhappy world! Such a world, if left unchecked, would undoubtedly descend into division, polarisation, and all manner of conflicts and chaos.
Do we really want to live in such a universe? (Or is it already too late now to ask that?!)
Cause #7 — Cruel Optimism Is Robbing Our Focus
Chapter Eight talks about another cause that caught my attention. It is what Hari calls “cruel optimism.”
Simply put, it means that the oft-heard phrase “physician, heal thyself” as it applies to people independently solving their own problems, can often be a cruel and unhelpful means of ridding oneself of an addiction. Those who swear by it are often in privileged positions with the means to make it happen.
Try throwing that phrase at someone on a low-wage fixed income who has to feed a large family. Or someone on death row. Or who’s just lost his job, housing, or any of an array of basic needs that the privileged take for granted.
This cause resonates with me a lot because I’ve been told for decades I can choose my response to any given situation or challenge that comes my way so quit complaining. In short, I’m the master of my own destiny.
While I don’t deny we must take individual responsibility to work out our life issues and challenges, to simply say it is all on us often ignores larger forces at play in society and the systems we’re all a part of. To put the “blame” squarely on a person’s shoulders without care for how his surroundings, upbringing, and lot in life have also played a part seems to me a blind spot that is in bad need of correction.
Put another way, while pundits may claim that stress is mostly self-imposed, Hari posits that on many occasions, it isn’t. And victims of stress that is imposed upon them, whether by situations at home and in their work places, can cause loss of attention and focus that are detrimental in the long run to their overall well-being.
Conclusion — Read The Book!
Bottomline: tech companies should not be absolved from this invasion they’ve wreaked on our focus and ability to concentrate.
Though clearly to be read with a healthy dose of salt and caution, I would still highly recommend this book to anyone like me who desires to regain control of his/her focus and attention this year.
