707: Johann Hari | Why You Can't Pay Attention—And What to Do About It

The Jordan Harbinger Show

Jordan Harbinger

Business, Education, Science

4.8 • 12.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2022

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Johann Hari (@johannhari101) is a New York Times best-selling author and top-rated TED speaker. His latest book is Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—And How to Think Deeply Again.

What We Discuss with Johann Hari:

It's not just your imagination: attention spans are shortening, and finding the mental state that fosters deep thinking is increasingly elusive.
It's not just kids: college-age people switch tasks, on average, every 65 seconds. Adults? Every three minutes. We've become accustomed to interrupting ourselves when external distractions aren't there to do it for us.
It's not your fault: your inability to focus isn't a personal failure; your focus has been stolen from you by powerful external forces that have left all of us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit.
It's not just the internet and technology: our lack of focus has actually been happening for generations.
Discover what Johann learned about reclaiming this focus—as individuals, and as a society—on a trip that took him around the world.
And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/707

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Miss the conversation we had with Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist, the primary subject of the acclaimed Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, co-founder of The Center for Humane Technology, and co-host of the podcast Your Undivided Attention? Catch up with episode 533: Tristan Harris | Reclaiming Our Future with Humane Technology here!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Coming up next on the Jordan Harbinger Show.
0:02.9	You've got to understand one thing about the human brain more than anything else.
0:07.6	You can only consciously think about one or two things at a time.
0:13.4	That's it.
0:14.4	This is a fundamental limitation of the human brain, but what's happened is we've fallen
0:17.9	for a mass delusion.
0:19.5	The average teenager, for example, now believes they can follow six or seven forms of media
0:24.3	at the same time.
0:26.1	Welcome to the show.
0:29.9	I'm Jordan Harbinger.
0:31.2	On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets and skills of the world's
0:34.7	most fascinating people.
0:36.2	We have in-depth conversations with scientists and entrepreneurs, spies and psychologists,
0:40.9	even the occasional former cult member Mafia enforcer, undercover agent or tech mogul,
0:46.1	and each episode turns our guests' wisdom into practical advice that you can use to build
0:50.2	a deeper understanding of how the world works and become a better thinker.
0:54.4	If you're new to the show or you want to tell your friends about the show, I suggest
0:58.0	our episode starter packs.
0:59.6	These are some of our favorite episodes organized by Topic.
1:02.6	The help new listeners get a taste of everything that we do here on the show.
1:05.2	I realize 700-plus episodes can be a little overwhelming.
1:08.4	These playlists include crime and cults, technology and futurism, China and North Korea,
	...

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