If you go for a walk and pay the slightest bit of attention to your surroundings, you’ll quickly notice most people staring at their screens, completely oblivious to the world around them.
This observation may not seem jarring at first. After all, our lives revolve around our phones—it’s just how things are now. But if you take a moment to really look, it’s unsettling. Strangers remain absorbed in their screens, barely registering the birds chirping, the wind rustling through the trees, or the final golden glow of the sun slipping away.
And you don’t need to be a nature enthusiast to sense that something is off. Life happens beyond the screen, yet an endless cycle of notifications, messages, and algorithms holds our attention hostage.
The premise of Stolen Focus
This is precisely the argument Johann Hari makes in Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again. Hari, best known for his work on addiction and depression, turns his investigative eye to the crisis of attention, exploring why so many of us feel scattered, distracted, and unable to focus on anything meaningful. It’s not just personal failing, he argues—it’s by design.
Tech companies, social media platforms, and even aspects of modern work culture are engineered to fracture our concentration, keeping us hooked in ways that serve profit over well-being.
Why this book is genuinely impactful
Hari’s writing is both personal and rigorously researched. He blends scientific studies with real-world experiences, interviewing experts from neuroscientists to Silicon Valley insiders. Along the way, he weaves in his own struggles with attention—something that makes the book all the more relatable. Rather than presenting information from a detached academic perspective, he writes as someone wrestling with the same frustrations as the rest of us.
One of the book’s strengths is its scope. Hari doesn’t settle for easy explanations. Yes, social media plays a role, but so do sleep deprivation, diet, pollution, and a culture that glorifies busyness. He takes aim at the myth of personal responsibility, showing how systemic forces shape our ability to concentrate. It’s a refreshing departure from the usual self-help narrative that tells us to simply “try harder” or delete a few apps.
That said, Stolen Focus isn’t without its controversies. Some critics have questioned Hari’s interpretations of research, and he’s faced scrutiny in the past for issues around sourcing. But even with these caveats, the core argument remains compelling: our attention is being stolen, and reclaiming it requires more than individual effort—it demands systemic change.
Waking up
Reading this book feels like waking up. It’s impossible to finish it without reassessing your own habits, questioning the forces shaping your digital life, and wondering just how much of your focus has been quietly slipping away. And while Hari doesn’t offer a neat, one-size-fits-all solution, he does offer hope: change is possible, but it requires us to collectively push back against the structures designed to keep us distracted.
So, if you’ve ever found yourself doom-scrolling late into the night, struggling to finish a book, or feeling like your ability to focus has been chipped away piece by piece, Stolen Focus might just be the wake-up call you need. You can buy it here.
Read about February’s chosen book of the month, We Will be Jaguars.