Johann Hari on Reclaiming Our Focus in a Distracted World
But most of us never get minutes without being interrupted. So there's lots of personal solutions that obviously I write about in style of focus.
Feeling like your attention span is slipping away? You're not alone. In this episode of 'The One You Feed', Eric Zimmer sits down with Johann Hari, a writer and journalist whose work has been praised by everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Noam Chomsky. Johann's book, *Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again*, is the centerpiece of their conversation.
He shares his eye-opening experience of spending three months without internet or a smartphone in Provincetown, Cape Cod. Imagine that—three months of deep thinking without the constant ping of notifications! Johann dives into the negative effects of social media and the larger forces at play that are damaging our ability to focus. He argues that it's not just about personal willpower; society and technology are designed in ways that hack our attention.
Johann and Eric discuss how we can start designing tech to help us focus rather than distract us. They also explore the idea that our collective problems become harder to solve when our attention is fragmented. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the digital noise and longed for a way to think deeply again, this episode is a must-listen.