Why we can't pay attention anymore

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Recode

Science, Technology, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with the author Johann Hari about his new book Stolen Focus, which explores what's happening — and what's already happened — to our attention. They discuss how exactly Big Tech "stole" our ability to focus, what many leading scientists say about how we are psychologically and physiologically changed by the powerful new draws on our attention, and whether or not we need an "attention rebellion" to fight back against the tech giants, whose business models depend on us getting easily distracted. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Johann Hari (@johannhari101), author References: Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari (Crown; 2022) Companion site with audio excerpts from interviews with experts and additional endnotes: stolenfocusbook.com Getting Ahead of ADHD by Joel T. Nigg (Guilford; 2017) "Capitalism is turning us into addicts" by Sean Illing, interviewing David T, Courtwright (Vox; Apr. 18, 2020) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan (1964) "Enhancing attention through training" by Michael Posner, et al. (Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences (4); 2015) "Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying" by Larry Rosen, et al. (Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (3); 2013) "Accelerating dynamics of collective attention" by Sune Lehmann, et al. (Nature Communications; 2019) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:36.4	Hey, it's Adam. Today we have an episode from our friends at Vox Conversations, where Sean
0:42.6	Elling recently spoke with British author Johan Hari, whose book Stolen Focus is about attention
0:49.4	and the psychology of modern life. I'll let them take it from here.
0:56.3	My ability to focus on any one thing for an extended period of time isn't what it used to be,
1:04.2	and it was never that great to begin with. And while this is not the kind of thing that's
1:09.4	easily measured, I can feel it in my own life. Reading, writing, watching a long movie, these things
1:17.8	feel harder than they used to. And it's not surprising. We live in a distracted world,
1:28.0	almost certainly the most distracted world in human history. And if you're part of this circus,
1:34.4	you are drowning in options and gadgets and screens, and you're being pulled in a million
1:40.9	directions seemingly at once all of the time. Some of this is just happenstance. But there are
1:48.6	also entire industries that exist to keep us in this distracted state. If you spend any time online,
1:57.0	you already know this. You're constantly stalked by advertisers and product peddlers,
2:03.6	and even by the platforms themselves. Your attention is constantly being harvested and sold.
2:10.5	That's the whole business model of Big Tech. A new book called Stolen Focus by the British writer
2:17.8	Johann Hari takes a close look at what's happening and what's happened to our attention.
2:25.3	Hari argues that we're all becoming lost in our own lives, which feel more and more like a parade
	...

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