My goal for this year is to read 15 books.
I recently finished the book “Stolen Focus – why you can’t pay attention and how to think deeply again”, written by Johann Hari.
Johann Hari is a writer and journalist for a.o. the New York Times and the Guardian. ‘Stolen Focus’ is one of his two New York Times best-selling books.
In this book, Hari demystifies the crisis of our collective attention from a holistic perspective. He identifies 12 causes which contribute to our inability to focus. Hari asserts that this is heavily influenced by external factors, beyond ourselves, from Silicon Valley rebels who learned to hack human attention to our human innate desire to increase our speed and deal with everything that is going on around us.
“Your increasing inability to focus is not due to a lack of self-discipline but the result of a deliberate plan to control human behavior and focus on screen time, not on life time”
What did I appreciate most?
Johann Hari started as a journalist and his writing skills are fantastic. This book and its topic are deeply researched by Johann and written like the best kind of thriller, one which you can’t stop reading. The anecdotes that he uses to support his findings are vivid and captivating.
Additionally, I believe this is one of the best examinations of attention from a personal and societal perspective. Hari goes beyond the surface, to include topics which do have an effect on our focus. Topics such as sleep, diet, stress and pollution. By combining these topics and relating it back to attention, this book provides an excellent holistic perspective.
What is my tip?
I expected this book to be more helpful in how to address the attention crisis, whereas this book has been helpful in addressing the debate about attention. Of the roughly 300 pages, only 20 or so were about practical matters. The remaining part were theoretical concepts that contribute to the debate on our decline in focus.
What is my takeaway from this book?
First of all, let me say that this has been one of the best books I have read in the past 12 months. The key point I take away from this book is twofold, one for me and one for my children.
For me: Hari shifted the attention problem from individual to society level when speaking about the 12 causes. He asserts that the society has to help the individual to combat his attention. In order to make a difference at the societal level, you need to start at the individual level.
Consequently, I asked myself, what (additional) small step can I consistently set to increase my focus? The answer to that question for me was; putting my phone away during family time (weekdays 5-7pm). This is the moment of the day where I want to focus on my family and deal with other things (e.g. distractions on my phone) later.
For my children: with 3 daughters under 4 years, this book has opened my eyes on the importance of independent play for children. By letting them play alone (with my wife or me nearby), this fosters imagination and creative play, whilst building problem-solving skills and patience. I am thankful that this book has shed light on that, in particular because we are currently in the phase of school selection for my oldest daughter.
What techniques do you exploit to reduce your screen time and improve your life time?
If you are interested to steal back your focus, contact me now, before you get distracted.
My goal for this year is to read 15 books.
I recently finished the book “Stolen Focus – why you can’t pay attention and how to think deeply again”, written by Johann Hari.
Johann Hari is a writer and journalist for a.o. the New York Times and the Guardian. ‘Stolen Focus’ is one of his two New York Times best-selling books.
In this book, Hari demystifies the crisis of our collective attention from a holistic perspective. He identifies 12 causes which contribute to our inability to focus. Hari asserts that this is heavily influenced by external factors, beyond ourselves, from Silicon Valley rebels who learned to hack human attention to our human innate desire to increase our speed and deal with everything that is going on around us.
“Your increasing inability to focus is not due to a lack of self-discipline but the result of a deliberate plan to control human behavior and focus on screen time, not on life time”
What did I appreciate most?
Johann Hari started as a journalist and his writing skills are fantastic. This book and its topic are deeply researched by Johann and written like the best kind of thriller, one which you can’t stop reading. The anecdotes that he uses to support his findings are vivid and captivating.
Additionally, I believe this is one of the best examinations of attention from a personal and societal perspective. Hari goes beyond the surface, to include topics which do have an effect on our focus. Topics such as sleep, diet, stress and pollution. By combining these topics and relating it back to attention, this book provides an excellent holistic perspective.
What is my tip?
I expected this book to be more helpful in how to address the attention crisis, whereas this book has been helpful in addressing the debate about attention. Of the roughly 300 pages, only 20 or so were about practical matters. The remaining part were theoretical concepts that contribute to the debate on our decline in focus.
What is my takeaway from this book?
First of all, let me say that this has been one of the best books I have read in the past 12 months. The key point I take away from this book is twofold, one for me and one for my children.
For me: Hari shifted the attention problem from individual to society level when speaking about the 12 causes. He asserts that the society has to help the individual to combat his attention. In order to make a difference at the societal level, you need to start at the individual level.
Consequently, I asked myself, what (additional) small step can I consistently set to increase my focus? The answer to that question for me was; putting my phone away during family time (weekdays 5-7pm). This is the moment of the day where I want to focus on my family and deal with other things (e.g. distractions on my phone) later.
For my children: with 3 daughters under 4 years, this book has opened my eyes on the importance of independent play for children. By letting them play alone (with my wife or me nearby), this fosters imagination and creative play, whilst building problem-solving skills and patience. I am thankful that this book has shed light on that, in particular because we are currently in the phase of school selection for my oldest daughter.
What techniques do you exploit to reduce your screen time and improve your life time?
If you are interested to steal back your focus, contact me now, before you get distracted.