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

An American singer discussed in an anecdote about a godson's childhood obsession and later loss of focus.

New Zealand businessman who successfully implemented a four-day work week, resulting in increased productivity and reduced stress among his employees.

A New York Times journalist who described Twitter and Facebook as an 'anger-based video game'.

Professor at Stanford University and an expert on organizational behavior, who supported the idea that rested teams are more productive, akin to sports teams.

Professor of literacy at Stavanger University in Norway, who explained the concept of 'screen inferiority' and its negative impact on comprehension and memory during reading.

A British actor, comedian, and writer, mentioned as having thought highly of Johann Hari's book.

Professor at MIT and leading neuroscientist who emphasizes the brain's inability to consciously think about more than one thing at a time and the costs of context switching.

Leading expert on sleep at Harvard Medical School, who pioneered research into how sleep deprivation dramatically impairs attention and cognitive function.

Dr. at the University of Auckland Business School who studied Andrew Barnes's four-day week experiment, confirming its positive impact on productivity and employee well-being.

One of the first investors in Facebook, who admitted their entire business model was designed to hack people's attention.

CEO of Facebook, who acknowledged the negative impact of addictive content, causing internal company changes, but later dismissed reports on the platform's divisive effects.

Author of 'Lost Connections' and 'Stolen Focus', researching the causes and solutions to the attention crisis.

Professor at Yale University, an expert on pre-commitment, a strategy to help individuals resist temptations and achieve goals.

Professor whose study found that the average teenager believes they can follow seven forms of media simultaneously.

Professor at the University of Minnesota, who explained that sleep deprivation is interpreted by the body as an emergency, leading to adverse physiological and psychological effects.

A leading Silicon Valley investor who predicted the world would become far more addictive in the next 40 years.

Former US Secretary of State and presidential candidate, mentioned as having read Johann Hari's book and made a nice comment.

Former Google engineer and expert on attention, who categorized types of attention (spotlight, starlight, daylight) and highlighted the tech industry's internal concerns about their creations.

Professor who spent over 50 years studying flow states, defining it and identifying three key conditions for achieving it.

Former US President whose political campaigns leveraged social media algorithms that promote polarizing and inflammatory content, demonstrating the power of negativity bias.

Actor mentioned in a metaphor about people realizing they live in a 'simulation,' referring to the moment Facebook users learn about algorithms.

Food writer who suggests referring to ultra-processed items as 'food-like substances' rather than actual food.

Professor at Oregon Health & Science University, an expert on children's attention problems, who compared the attention crisis to the obesity epidemic.

Dissident former Google engineer who worked on Gmail and became a critic of how technology is designed to hijack attention, noting the 11 billion daily distractions caused by Google.

Professor at the University of Oregon, who found that it takes 23 minutes to regain focus after being distracted.

A professor from the 1960s famous for the phrase 'the medium is the message,' which highlights how the form of media shapes consciousness irrespective of content.

Former UK Prime Minister, mentioned by the host as an example of a politician likely lacking the technological understanding to implement effective legislation against invasive tech.

One of Britain's leading nutritionists, who explained how the modern diet of processed foods causes rapid energy release and crashes, leading to brain fog and poor focus.

A social media app contributing to distraction and fragmented attention, particularly in the godson's story.

A social media platform whose medium carries the message that the world should be interpreted quickly, briefly, and that agreement is paramount, and whose algorithms promote anger.

Fast-food chain, used by Johann Hari as a personal example of consuming processed food that negatively impacts focus, and as a contrast to his grandparents' natural diet.

A video platform mentioned as contributing to fragmented attention and where the godson might have first seen Elvis.

A company that conducted a study showing that interruption significantly reduced workers' IQ by 10 points.

A brand of nutritionally complete food, recommended by the host for convenient and healthy eating, especially during periods when diet and fitness decline.

A company for which the host conducted a study comparing Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's online reach, highlighting the impact of inflammatory content.

A social video app, described as highly addictive and negatively impacting attention, especially after Facebook's shift away from short, viral videos.

A car manufacturer whose Gothenburg branch moved mechanics to a six-hour day, leading to 114% more production and 25% profit increase.

A prominent tech company where James Williams and Tristan Harris previously worked, raising concerns about the design of products like Gmail.

A social media platform whose medium suggests that looking good and receiving likes for appearance are what truly matter in life.

A messaging app contributing to distraction and fragmented attention.

A social media platform whose business model relies on tracking user data and selling attention to advertisers, leading to features that maximize engagement over user well-being.

A technology company that implemented a four-day work week in Japan, reporting a 40% increase in productivity.

A hotel in Las Vegas where two individuals, Tommy and Shay, lived in a drainage tunnel, whose wisdom profoundly impacted Johann Hari.

An academic institution where Professor Earl Miller works, and also cited for a study on the prevalence of false claims shared on Facebook.

Academic institution where Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, an expert on organizational behavior, teaches.

Governing party of China, cited for its strict regulations on children's video game time and social media algorithms, demonstrating a collective effort to manage attention.

Institution where Dr. Charles Czeisler, a leading sleep expert, conducts his research.

A media company that tested Facebook's changed algorithm and found that discussion-worthy content performed better than short, viral videos.

An organization that conducted a study finding that moral outrage in Facebook status updates doubles likes and shares.

A plastic safe designed to lock away phones for a set period, recommended as a pre-commitment strategy to improve sleep by enforcing digital detox before bed.

Cited as an analogy for social media's business model; a harmful product that was eventually banned despite market forces, suggesting a similar approach for regulating tech.

A smartphone mentioned in the context of it being locked away in a 'case safe' to prevent distraction.

A tablet device that contributes to the godson's fragmented attention and is used at Graceland, causing visitors to stare at screens instead of the site.

A future iteration of the internet, discussed as a new frontier for technology that legislators are already behind on regulating.

A well-documented psychological phenomenon where humans pay more attention to negative stimuli than positive, heavily exploited by social media algorithms to maximize engagement.

A technology allowing images to be remade in the style of various artists, also discussed as a potentially invasive AI application for personalizing advertisements based on user communication patterns.

A business model, primarily used by social media companies, that tracks, profiles, and sells user attention to advertisers, which Johann Hari proposes banning.

A state of deep, effortless attention where one is completely absorbed in a meaningful task, loses sense of time and ego, essential for a good life, but easily ruined by interruptions.

A labor policy implemented by companies like Andrew Barnes's in New Zealand, Microsoft in Japan, and Toyota in Gothenburg, shown to significantly boost productivity, reduce stress, and improve sleep.

A well-proven effect where people remember and understand significantly less when reading on screens compared to physical books, equivalent to a loss of two-thirds of a child's annual reading progress.

Johann Hari's previous book on mental health, depression, anxiety, and meaningful connection.

Johann Hari's book exploring the attention crisis, its causes, and potential solutions, based on interviews with experts.

Google's email service, whose design choices, like phone vibrations for new emails, were intentionally made to increase engagement and distraction.

Chinese social media platform, mentioned in the context of China's tight regulation of algorithms.

AI functionality within Gmail that could legally scan emails to identify persuasive language patterns and sell this data to advertisers.

A feature of YouTube that Tristian Harris suggested simply turning off to reduce the amplification of rage-inducing content.

A newspaper that leaked Facebook's internal report on the platform's divisive effects.

A film referenced metaphorically to describe the realization of how algorithms control online experiences.

A country where social media's divisive algorithms were partly implicated in fueling genocide.

The hub of tech innovation, where many of the attention-hijacking technologies are designed, and where Johann Hari interviewed disillusioned engineers.

Elvis Presley's former home, visited by Johann Hari and his godson, where the godson's distraction by technology was keenly observed.