Stolen Focus | Johann Hari

Why it is included: We tend to treat our inability to focus as a personal failure—a lack of willpower.

Hari argues that this is a lie.

After interviewing leading experts in Silicon Valley and neuroscience, he demonstrates that our attention didn't collapse; it was stolen.

We are living in an environment systematically designed by surveillance capitalism to fragment our concentration to extract data.

This book is included as a systemic diagnosis. While books like Deep Work teach personal defense, Stolen Focus teaches collective offense.

It connects the "Attention Crisis" to the "Climate Crisis"—arguing that a species that cannot pay attention cannot solve complex problems. It demands that we treat attention not as a consumer good, but as a human right that requires protection, regulation, and a fundamental redesign of our technology.