Why you can’t Pay Attention and how to think deeply again.
I don’t read nearly as much as I would like to. There are the daily snippets of blog posts, emails, news headlines and school newsletters but nothing more than a page or two long at a time and to be honest that is probably the amount of written text I can focus on before my mind starts to wander.
Our daughter is reading me ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ at the moment which is a lovely role reversal from the years I spent reading bedtime stories to our kids every night but sadly I can’t really remember the last time I went to a book store or a library just to pick out a book for myself. And I admit that when I have picked up a book to read in the last few years, it can be hard to stay focused and get beyond a chapter or two. I remember my childhood Summers were spent reading whole series of books – there was nothing better than a swim in the pool followed by an escape into the adventures of Trixie Beldon who could fill your entire Summer holidays with mysteries to be solved.
Straight out of school, I began a Bachelor of Arts at uni studying English and History which required me to read a book a week at least but I switched to a Design degree the following year and I would say that since that time, the amount of reading I do each week has declined. At first it was just a case that my course required more practical application than written assignments so it was natural that I would spend perhaps less time in the library and later when I lived in Japan for 8 years, English language novels weren’t as easily accessible. Then I became a mum and the tiredness that comes along with that role seems to excuse the lack of novels consumed and maybe I was just making excuses for being a bit lazy. I certainly understand the importance of reading and always read to our kids every night but what had happened for myself?
The answer I think can be found in Johann Hari’s book, ‘Stolen Focus: Why you can’t pay attention and how to think deeply again.’ I stumbled upon this book while watching an interview on YouTube and proceeded to listen to the audio book as this seems to be one way recently that I can get a book ‘read’ while working at the same time. The book is easy to read as the author takes us on his own journey to discover why he, and those around him, had lost the ability to focus and the 12 reasons he uncovers that have contributed to this collective problem we face. He also looks at some of the techniques he has used to personally restore his ability to be present and pay attention as well as questioning what we should be doing as a society to navigate this modern malaise.
Hari begins his journey to discovery by going away to a small town for 3 months leaving behind his regular mobile phone and taking only a laptop that is unable to connect to the internet. It addresses the obvious cause of our lack of focus by pointing to the rise in technology and apps specifically designed to steal our time and distract us. I think this is not new information for most of us – we know it but sometimes we have to have it pointed out to us with some lovely scientific research to really make us stop and question how this is affecting us as a whole society. I think Hari could have written his entire book on just this topic. He interviewed people all over the world in search of answers and points to the fact that this is not something we can solve entirely on an individual level – it is not just our will power to resist these distractions and there are so many other factors at play.
As a parent of two teenagers, I am constantly questioning our choices for our kids and after the first couple of chapters, Hari has me thinking that his book should be read by everyone, particularly to improve the lives of our children. I think what makes the book so timely and relevant, is that it doesn’t just focus on the rise in tech and social media as a cause for our declining ability to pay attention but Hari also explores other contributing factors such as our change in diet, our lack of sleep, pollutants, stress, current social models and more. It is certainly a book to make you think and make us question where we are as a society and how we can possibly build a bright future without first fixing our problems with distraction and inability to focus deeply.
