25 Discussion Questions for Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (With Analysis) | Chapterly Blog
Johann Hari's Stolen Focus argues that the global attention crisis is not your fault — it is the result of powerful systemic forces that profit from your distraction. These Stolen Focus discussion questions examine the twelve causes of attention collapse Hari identifies, from surveillance capitalism to sleep deprivation to the decline of childhood play, and the individual and structural solutions he proposes. Whether you are in a book club, a media literacy course, or struggling with your own focus, these questions will challenge how you think about attention, technology, and what it means to live a focused life. Published in 2022, the book draws on interviews with attention researchers, Silicon Valley insiders, and people fighting for focus in a world designed to steal it. Hari argues that while individual discipline matters, the real problem is structural — the business models of technology companies depend on fragmenting our attention, and only systemic change can restore it. These 25 questions are organized by theme. Stolen Focus Discussion Questions: The Attention Crisis Hari frames the modern attention crisis not as a personal failing but as an engineered outcome -- the predictable result of business models that profit from fragmenting human concentration. He presents...