How To Fix Your Focus & Stop Procrastinating: Johann Hari | E114

TL;DR

Johann Hari argues that we face an attention crisis caused by twelve systemic factors—including surveillance‑capitalism business models, sleep deprivation, processed food, and overwork—which collectively degrade our ability to focus.

Key insights

• The average American college student now focuses on any one thing for only 65 seconds; office workers focus on one task for three minutes.
• Twelve factors either boost or trash attention, and many have degraded over recent decades, indicating a genuine crisis rather than mere perception.
• The business model of platforms like Facebook is based on “fracking” attention: they make money by keeping users scrolling, so there is no “Who’s free to meet up?” button—that would reduce engagement.