How to break free from distraction, according to an expert

And why your focus is worth fighting for...

When was the last time you made it through an entire article or show without checking your phone?

If you’re anything like me, your focus is fragmented at best, non-existent at worst. You sit down to work and somehow end up deep in a TikTok rabbit-hole. You go to respond to an email and 20 minutes later, you’re reading a Reddit thread about the decline of modern society (it’s a dark place).

The good (bad? comforting? disconcerting?) news: You’re not alone. Don’t go shame spiralling.

Such is the sad state of our collective concentration that Netflix — a hub that garners a huge amount of attention, globally — even has a category called ‘shows you can watch while scrolling your phone’. Terrifying.

According to Johann Hari, NY Times best-selling author of Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again, our attention spans aren’t failing by accident. They’re being hijacked. And the more distracted we become, the harder it gets to do the kind of deep, meaningful work that actually matters.

I wrote about this for Body&Soul a few years back, and recently decided to revisit the book to see if it all rings true. Spoiler: it does.

So if your brain feels foggy, your creativity drained, and your ability to focus nonexistent, here’s what’s really going on—and how to take your attention back.