Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--And How to Think Deeply Again

Johann Hari is a Swiss-British journalist and author. Raised in London, Hari studied Social and Political Science at Cambridge University. His work includes the bestsellers Chasing the Scream: The Search for the Truth About Addiction (2015) and Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope (2018). His journalism has been published in the New York Times, the London Times, The Guardian, and other publications. Hari has established himself as a well-known thinker through his popular TED Talks based on his books, as well as his TV appearances.

Hari draws on his personal experiences to inform Stolen Focus. As a busy professional and self-confessed workaholic, Hari developed a dependence on his devices, which accompanied him everywhere. Hari recognized that his attention span was waning, and often heard similar complaints from his friends: “I had just turned forty, and wherever my generation gathered, we would lament our lost capacity for concentration, as if it was a friend who had vanished one day at sea and never been seen since” (5). He was disturbed to recognize similar behavior in his godson, who also spent hours on social media every day. Hari found it impossible to discourage his godson from using his phone compulsively, and admits that “my rage towards him […] was really anger towards myself […] I was losing my ability to be present too.