Issue 133: How to Get Your Focus Back
Welcome to Backstory, a weekly newsletter turning global technology shifts into a three-minute read. This week, we’re talking about stolen focus. – Mary Ames, Director of Strategy
THE BIG TAKE
How to Get Your Focus Back
We live in one of the most incredible periods of human history. Never before has the world around us transformed so profoundly and at such a rapid pace. Change at this pace will always have unforeseen consequences. One such consequence is our ability to focus. Sometime in the last two decades, we lost a fundamental insight into how we operate as human beings. Our minds crave singular focus and not multitasking.
Multitasking and computers. The concept of multitasking was first dreamed about in connection to computer technology. Unlike those machines, our minds are designed to focus on specific tasks and items. Yet, our constantly pinging smartphones and always-on approach to productive work have pulled our minds in many different directions. The result is stolen focus, a term coined by the English writer Johann Hari in a fascinating new book, Stolen Focus.
No one is immune. Hari’s book is an intimate account of how technology changes our lives and steals our focus. Early in the volume, Hari writes, “For years, whenever I couldn’t focus, I would angrily blame myself. I would say: You’re lazy, you’re undisciplined, you need to pull yourself together. Or I would blame my phone, and rage against it, and wish it had never been invented. Most of the people I know respond the same way. But I learned that in fact something much deeper than personal failure, or a single new invention, is happening here.”
Indeed, something is happening on a deep level, but we are aware of it, and knowledge is half the battle. If you are excited by the world of technology, like we are, Hari’s trip into the world of focus is worth your time. By resetting a balance between our bodies and brains, we can fully experience the power of the technology around us.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
– James Baldwin, American writer
CHART OF THE WEEK
This week we are looking at lithium. Miners of the vital raw earth material are experiencing a boom in value. Could lithium be the new oil?
OUR VIEWS THIS WEEK
A recipe for delight: Have we lost the element of surprise in our internet-saturated lives? Many feel that the omnipresent algorithms of digital giants are eroding the serendipity of stumbling upon new experiences or ideas online. In this archived piece, we wrote about one unusual way to reintroduce the delight of discovery in our digital lives. The solution might surprise you.
The power of storytelling: Now more than ever, stories are the glue that keeps people together. The natural communal element of our lives vanished during the pandemic but is now returning. Our ability to gather together is foundational to what makes us human and has transformed. Writing in Gulf News, Danish Farhan outlined how businesses need to (re)discover the power of storytelling to get through challenging times and remain on top.
SPOTTED ELSEWHERE
Who were the Luddites? They might be one of the most misunderstood groups in history. Luddite is widely used to describe someone who rejects technology in most forms. But who were the Luddites, and what did they actually believe? Smithsonian magazine investigated the history of this fascinating group back in 2011, and the article remains one of the best sources for this misunderstood group.
Startups flameout. Vice Media has filed for bankruptcy in the latest manifestation of a once powerful brand flaming out and being sold off for parts. Whether in media or technology, the start-up world often eats its own. In a rundown for Axios, Dan Primack and Sareen Hasbeshian list the biggest startup bankruptcies in the last decade. How does that old saying go? If, at first, you don’t succeed...
QUICK HITS
Will we ever...hibernate in space?
A third of scientific papers may be fraudulent.
What is a clock anyway?