A wake-up call about the cost of our collective distraction

Christians have long recognised that there are secular prophets — writers and commentators who may not be Christian, or writing from a Christian perspective, yet who perceive with great clarity what is happening in our world. They highlight key truths about our world and the human condition that the Church needs to hear and reflect on. The Bible itself acknowledges that wisdom can be found beyond the people of God. Therefore, alongside the explicitly Christian books I review and summarise, I will occasionally highlight works by secular authors when I believe they offer valuable insights. Stolen Focus, by Johann Hari is one such book.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Hari has a clear and accessible style while still engaging with his subject on a profound level. His topic is incredibly relevant today and personally challenging. I appreciate how he weaves together his own journey of struggling with focus, with the intriguing stories of others, and the latest significant research. Even when covering complex studies in social science, neuroscience, and technology ethics, he makes them accessible and fascinating. This is partly achieved by the fact he travels across the world to speak to these leading researchers face to face – from Moscow to New Zealand to Washington (clocking up the air miles!). This approach gives the book a personal, immediate feel while exploring the deep-rooted causes behind our fractured attention. Many of these causes are structural: big tech, social media algorithms, sleep deprivation, environmental pollution, and an unhealthy culture of overwork. But some of them are to do with our own choices and habits.

I liked how he balances the personal and systemic challenges. On the one hand, he calls on us to take responsibility for our own screen use and make efforts to refocus. On the other, and this is where the greater emphasis lies, he highlights the larger forces at play, particularly the alarming ways in which Silicon Valley’s big tech companies deliberately design social media platforms to hijack our attention for profit. This was the most compelling and disturbing part of the book. Addressing these issues requires not just individual action, he argues, but also a communal and governmental response. Hari expresses an inspiring — though perhaps partly naïve — faith in collective action. History does show that democracies have changed through such concerted efforts – votes for women, civil rights etc. But I can’t help but wonder if he fully considers how the very threats to our democracies that the hijacking of our attention brings, and which he outlines so brilliantly, might undermine the ability to organise such effective collective action in the future.

As Christians, we recognise that the enemy to our souls is a thief and one of his strategies is to steal. We must therefore resist the theft of our focus. I explore the implications of this cultural trend for Christians elsewhere but, fundamentally, we should not allow ourselves to be enslaved—whether by screens, social media, big tech, or distraction in general. We need to reclaim the value of sustained attention.

One of the parts I found most striking and enjoyed reading was his comparison between the slow, deep reading of a book and the fragmented experience of scrolling through a social media feed. It was an excellent observation:

“Before the words convey their specific meaning, the medium of the book tells us several things. Firstly, life is complex, and if you want to understand it, you have to set aside a fair bit of time to think deeply about it. You need to slow down. Secondly, there is a value in leaving behind your other concerns and narrowing down your attention to one thing, sentence after sentence, page after page. Thirdly, it is worth thinking deeply about how other people live and how their minds work. They have complex inner lives just like you.… In fact, the world is complex. To reflect that honestly, you usually need to focus on one thing for a significant amount of time, and you need space to speak at length. Very few things worth saying can be explained in 280 characters.”

I am aware of the irony of quoting this on a site that offers quick 20 minute book summaries. So, while I still see value in short book summaries and outlines (especially in helping readers decide what is worth their time and focus), I encourage you to take the time to read books slowly and deeply. Perhaps start with this one.

See my article on the stealing of our attention.

Hari talks about the thesis of his book at length in this short series of videos.