Summary of Johann Hari's Stolen Focus

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 I was planning on going offline for three months. I was going to use my friend’s old, broken laptop to write the novel I had been planning for years. I needed a phone that could not access the internet of any kind.

#2 The most effective way to beat any destructive habit is through pre-commitment. You bind the future version of you so that you don’t have to commit to the temptation of your current state.

#3 I had been working nonstop since I was twenty-one. I had taken almost no holidays. I had felt tired for so long that all I knew was how to outrun it. As people began to disembark, I heard the ping of an incoming text message.

#4 I wrote my first email in 1993, when I was 19 years old. I didn’t feel any excitement or joy when I sent it, and I didn’t understand why there was such a big deal about this new email thing. I wanted a place that would not stimulate my journalistic curiosity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669357193

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Johann Hari's Stolen Focus

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was planning on going offline for three months. I was going to use my friend’s old, broken laptop to write the novel I had been planning for years. I needed a phone that could not access the internet of any kind.

#2

The most effective way to beat any destructive habit is through pre-commitment. You bind the future version of you so that you don’t have to commit to the temptation of your current state.

#3

I had been working nonstop since I was twenty-one. I had taken almost no holidays. I had felt tired for so long that all I knew was how to outrun it. As people began to disembark, I heard the ping of an incoming text message.

#4

I wrote my first email in 1993, when I was 19 years old. I didn’t feel any excitement or joy when I sent it, and I didn’t understand why there was such a big deal about this new email thing. I wanted a place that would not stimulate my journalistic curiosity.

#5

I had done the right thing by moving to Provincetown. The ocean was old and permanent, unlike Twitter, which was temporary and fast. It was never going to argue back, no matter how loud I yelled.

#6

I spent a week in decompression, feeling almost stoned with exhaustion and stillness. I sat in cafés and talked to strangers. I ate enough lobsters that, if that species ever evolves consciousness, I will be remembered as its Stalin figure.

#7

Sune Lehmann, a physicist, experienced a change in his focus when he went to visit his son in Provincetown. He would reach over and grab his phone to check