Book SummaryStolen Focus, by Johann Hari

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Stolen Focus

Stolen Focus by journalist Johann Hari (author of Lost Connections) makes the case that we have an attention crisis: We’re losing our ability to concentrate. He argues that the crisis is a result of outside forces stealing our focus—not of lazy individuals not trying hard enough to concentrate. Hari outlines the factors creating the crisis and his approach to solving it.

Hari believes we must fix the attention crisis for three reasons: 1) If you’re unable to pay attention, you can’t move forward on your goals. 2) As a society, we can’t confront the challenges we face without focusing on them to see what we need to do and then act. 3) Because the attention crisis is a result of human action, fixing it requires human action.

Published in 2022, Stolen Focus grew from Hari’s own experience of being increasingly unable to focus. He decided to research the problem and how best to deal with it. He read the work of scientists and activists on the subject, and he met some of them to see their experiences first-hand. (Shortform note: In addition to his journalism work, Hari is known for making [admitted missteps earlier in his...

Stolen Focus Summary The Attention Crisis

Hari argues that an attention crisis is undermining our cognitive ability to do three things: find flow (a state of intense focus), read, and think. This section will explain why each of these activities is becoming harder and what that means.

Proof #1: It’s Harder to Find Flow

Flow is our highest form of sustained attention, and Hari argues that the distractions of modern life are destroying it.

Behaviorism vs Positive Psychology

Hari believes our increasing difficulty finding flow has roots in the psychological theory of behaviorism. In the 1930s, psychologist B.F. Skinner discovered that you can train animals to do almost anything by giving them a reward. According to Hari, Skinner extended that insight to humans, arguing that we don’t have real freedom of choice. We pay attention to what the environment trains us to pay attention to, and we perform tasks because we crave a reward at the end, not because we want to do them.

Hari argues that Skinner’s theory is the basis of attention-grabbing mechanisms that are ubiquitous in modern life, such as “like” buttons on social media. Every time users post on social media, they’re pursuing the reward of external...

Stolen Focus Summary The Factors Contributing to the Attention Crisis

After citing his evidence for the attention crisis, Hari explores the reasons or factors contributing to it. This section will discuss seven factors that Hari believes are undermining our ability to focus: the failure to explore ADHD’s underlying causes, the lack of play in children’s lives, sleep deprivation, toxins in our food and environment, distracting technology, information overload, and too much emphasis on personal responsibility to solve attention problems.

Factor #1: Failure to Explore ADHD’s Causes

The first factor contributing to the attention crisis is how we treat ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which describes children’s inability to concentrate. Hari believes we’re not addressing it effectively. Too often, the reaction to children diagnosed with ADHD is to medicate them instead of addressing the underlying reasons and solving them.

Hari points out that ADHD numbers have climbed over the past few decades. Today, 13% of teenagers in the US have an ADHD diagnosis, and many of them take stimulants to manage it.

Factors That Lead to ADHD

While there’s little question ADHD is a real problem for many people, its causes are...

Stolen Focus Summary A Way Out of the Attention Crisis

While Hari agrees there are useful tricks for disciplining your focus, and he practices some himself, he believes they’re not enough. His proposed solution for the attention crisis has two parts: systemic changes around technology, work, and school, and a citizen-led movement.

Part #1 of the Solution: Systemic Changes

According to Hari, our model of constant economic growth drives most of the factors contributing to the attention crisis. “Success” under the economic growth model requires companies to get larger and individuals to get richer. To grow, businesses continuously find ways to sell more products, which traps consumers in a pattern of doing more and buying more each year. Hari contends that the stress of a growth-oriented society undermines our ability to focus, and because it’s a societal problem, it requires societal solutions.

He argues that we could shift from constant growth to a steady-state economy. In this new model, we would define success by different values, such as having job security and enough time to pursue goals outside of work. This would require changing how society functions today, including the tech business model, and work and school...

Shortform Exercise: Assess Your Focus

Hari argues that an attention crisis is undermining our ability to find flow, read, and think. Examine your own experience to see if you find evidence for these difficulties.

Describe the last time you were able to find a state of flow. How long ago was it? How long were you able to sustain your flow? What difficulties did you experience in reaching and maintaining flow?