This is a summary of the book titled “Stolen Focus: Why you can’t pay attention and how to think deeply again” written by Johann Hari and published by Crown in 2022. The author struggled with addiction to electronic devices and information overload, so he escaped to Cape Cod without internet enabled devices and embraced the “Cold turkey” method. His time gave him insights into focus that most others may not have experienced in this manner. He examines the issues surrounding human’s struggle to focus and proposes individual as well as societal solutions to attention crisis. He suggests that this valuable commodity can be reclaimed by entering a “flow state”. Some of the modern-day ailments include sleep deprivation are societal issues and they impede our ability to focus. Letting our mind wander can help us regain focus. Big Tech steals our data, focus and attention but somehow subtly passes the blame back to individuals via privacy notices. Other modern-day habits of poor or inefficient diet, exposure to environmental factors, and chemical imbalances also destroy focus. Even medications do not address these predicament we find ourselves in.
Humanity is facing an attention crisis due to the overwhelming amount of information available to us. A study by Sune Lehmann found that people's collective focus had been declining before the internet age, but the internet has accelerated its decline. The flood of information hinders the brain's ability to filter out irrelevant information and makes it less likely to understand complex topics. Multitasking is a myth, as it is actually "task-switching," which impairs focus in four ways: "the switch cost effect," "the screw-up effect," "the creativity drain," and "the diminished memory effect." To regain attention, individuals should enter a "flow state" and engage in activities that promote their well-being. Social media companies, like Instagram, use rewards to steal attention, as users engage with platforms to accumulate rewards, such as "hearts and likes," that represent social validation.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's work on the "flow state" suggests that finding a clear, meaningful goal can redirect personal focus. However, the popularity of reading books is decreasing due to the rise of social media and the need for shorter, bite-sized messages. To enter a flow state, choose a goal that is neither too far beyond one's abilities nor too easy.
Sleep deprivation is a societal issue, with people's sleep duration decreasing by 20% in the past century. Sleep is essential for the brain, as it removes metabolic waste and helps process waking-life emotions. To combat sleep deprivation, avoid chemically inducing sleep, avoid blue light-emitting screens, and limit exposure to artificial light at night.
Letting the mind wander can help regain focus by activating the "default-mode network" region of the brain, which helps make sense of the world, engage in creative problem-solving, and enable mental time travel. Daydreaming may seem like distracted thinking, but it is just a temporary solution to the problem of lost focus and mind-wandering.
Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, two tech experts, have raised concerns about the ethics of social media platforms. Harris, who became Google's first "design ethicist," questioned the ethics of designing distractions to increase user engagement, which corroded human thinking. Raskin, creator of the "infinite scroll," calculated that his invention wasted enough user time to equate to 200,000 human life spans every day. Both Harris and Raskin left Google when they realized the company had no intention of changing its behavior meaningfully, as doing so would harm its bottom line. They share concerns about Big Tech's "surveillance capitalism" and how it impedes not only individuals' attention but also society's collective attention. Big Tech shifts the blame onto individuals, as evidenced by Facebook's algorithm promoting fascism and Nazi groups in Germany. The tech industry's rhetoric claims that consumers can train themselves to cut back on online time, but when those attempts fail, individuals will blame themselves.
The modern Western diet and exposure to pollutants erode focus, leading to a cycle of blood sugar spikes and dips, causing lack of energy and unable to focus. Studies have shown that cutting artificial preservatives and additives from kids' diets can improve their focus by up to 50%. Exposure to pollutants, such as pesticides and flame-retardants, can damage the brain's neurons. Systemic change is necessary to address these issues.
Medicating people with ADHD often fails to target the root cause of their focus problems. A growing body of evidence suggests that 70%-80% of sufferers with ADHD are a product of the patient's environment rather than a biological disorder. Overprescribing ADHD medications to children can be risky, as they can be addictive and can stunt growth and cause heart problems.
To protect focus and channel it towards solving global challenges, it is time to lobby for societal changes, such as a ban on surveillance capitalism, subscription, or public ownership models for social media sites, and a four-day work week for chronic pain sufferers.
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