Johann Hari on Regaining our Ability to Focus

Tell Me Something True with Laura McKowen

What if there’s more to our collective struggle to FOCUS than we’ve considered? And what do we have to do to regain what we’ve lost? Those are the questions Johann Hari is exploring in his new book, “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention - and How To Think Deeply Again.” It’s a surprising look at how our struggle with attention isn’t just about tech. In this conversation, Johann brings the same inquisitive, roving gaze that led him to observe, “the opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety - it’s connection.” When he dropped that nugget in his legendary TED Talk (link in the notes below,) he articulated something that we didn’t know we had been searching for. While the statement isn’t totally accurate - most of us know addiction is more complicated than one thing – it still illuminated something fundamental about the misunderstanding our society has had about addiction forever. Johann’s view on our individual power to address the collective fog that has enveloped us around the pandemic is empowering and worth our time. Show notes: Johann Hari: https://johannhari.com/ Johann’s TED Talk: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong Episode link: https://www.tmstpod.com/episodes/40-johann-hari-regaining-our-ability-to-focus Spotify playlist for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4h6931YcA4D0Ax080zerkL Tell Me Something True is a 100% independent podcast. There are no corporations or advertisers backing this community. We are 100% funded by the TMST community. Support TMST today so you can hear the uncut interviews, attend private events with Laura and help keep TMST ad-free: https://tmst.supercast.com/