Madison Vale

Prior to opening the first chapter of Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus, I wondered how a book about why you cannot pay attention would truly capture my attention. In a world that revolves around social media and technology, it seems like there is no way that we can go back to the way things were before phones and social media. And it is true, we can’t. However, we can still begin to control how we allow them to consume us and direct our lives.  

The first three chapters bring us through many different scenarios as to how our devices are taking away from living our lives. Instead of looking at the beauty in front of us and living in the moment, we are allowing the notifications on our devices to take our focus away. Not only is it affecting how we experience life, but it is also affecting our overall wellbeing because we are not allowing ourselves to have clear boundaries with our technology. While I was reading all of this, I thought to myself, “I don’t get distracted THAT easily.” and then I was becoming much more aware of how many times I had looked down at a notification on my Apple Watch or picked up my phone since I had started reading.  

Maybe I am distracted? I was doing these things without even thinking or noticing. The more I read, the more aware I became of the situation between me and my phone. The situation in which I thought I had under control. I finally decided the only right thing to do was to put my phone faced down across the table and grab a snack to keep my hands full.  

Growing up with this rapidly changing technology has left me and many others my age with a unique perspective on life. Everything we do is documented through photos, texts, posts, calls, etc. We do not know who we are without the convenience of a device in hand. Everything I do now as a college student studying social media and design relies on me being responsive and aware of what’s coming in on my computer and phone. And with a future in the field of social media, it is so hard for me to pull myself away when everything I aim to do stems from this major “distraction”.  

It is incredibly interesting to notice how I am allowing my focus to be drawn away from the tasks at hand when they are not related to being on social media. And as I continue to read, I am only further reminded how important it is to be able to separate our lives online from our lives in person. Maybe I don’t need to go as far as going off the grid for 3 months in a small town on the Cape; but being able to put my phone down and not look at it while I read is a step in the right direction.