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Our attention is collapsing. In the US, college students are only able to focus on a task for 65 seconds…. And office workers can manage just 3 minutes. Our inability to focus…
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From the archive
We must stand up and say that a business model based on secretly tracking us in order to find, and exploit, weaknesses in our attention is not acceptable. It's immoral.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
We need to be saying, '…fuck you! Stop pouring itching powder over me!' It's like someone is pouring itching powder over us, all day, every day. The same person pouring itching powder over us is also the person saying, 'mate… try this meditation app….'
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
Cruel optimism is where someone comes along with a very simple app which says you can mediate for a few minutes a day and it will give you your attention back. It's optimistic because you're offering a solution in an upbeat tone – but it's cruel because solution is small, and incommensurate to the scale of the causes.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
I don't think it's a coincidence that globally, we're having the biggest crisis of democracy since the 1930s. At the same time as we're finding it hard to focus and pay attention, we also can't listen to each other and sustain our attention on collective problems.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
Think about anything you've ever achieved in your life that you're proud of... It will have taken a huge amount of sustained focus and attention. When your ability to focus and pay attention breaks down, so too does your ability to achieve goals.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
Your attention hasn't collapsed, it's been stolen from you by big forces. Once we understand those forces, we can begin to build meaningful solutions.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
We're pro-tech, but we need technology that works for us and intersects with our interests. Today, we have technology which is specifically designed to hack and invade our attention – and it doesn't need to be that way.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
I don't think it's a coincidence that globally, we're having the biggest crisis of democracy since the 1930s. At the same time as we're finding it hard to focus and pay attention, we also can't listen to each other.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
Think about anything you've ever achieved in your life that you're proud of... starting a business... being a good parent... learning to play the guitar.... It will have taken a huge amount of sustained focus and attention.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
Your attention hasn't collapsed, it's been stolen from you by big forces. Once we understand those forces, we can begin to build meaningful solutions.
— Johann HariJournalist and author known for books on addiction and depression
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