The book identifies 12 different ‘causes’ for our diminishing attention spans. That’s what led me to conclude that we’re in quite a serious attention crisis. When I couldn’t pay attention, I thought, “Oh, God, you’re weak, you’re lazy, you’re not good enough.”īut what I learned is that there’s scientific evidence that certain factors have been increasing in recent years that can harm your attention. My journey to Provincetown was early in my research, when I was still in the mode of blaming myself. The average American college student now focuses on any one task for only 65 seconds, the average office worker now focuses for only three minutes. I could see this happen to lots of people around me, and I noticed there were some quite eye-catching figures about this. It felt like, with each year, things that required deep focus like reading a book were more and more like running up a down-escalator. Johann Hari: I had noticed for a long time that my own attention was getting worse. The book starts with a three-month digital detox you did in a small coastal cabin in Provincetown, in the US. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here.Īny changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel.Ben Knight caught up with Johann to find out more about the book – and how we can reclaim our attention spans.

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Stolen focus book