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| website = [https://stolenfocusbook.com stolenfocusbook.com]
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📘 '''''Stolen Focus''''' is a nonfiction book by Johann Hari about an attention crisis shaped by ad-driven technology, work stress and other systemic forces; the UK hardback was published by Bloomsbury on 6 January 2022 (352 pp.; ISBN 978-1-5266-2022-4). <ref name="BloomsburyHB2022" />
The book draws on interviews with researchers and sets out twelve systemic “causes” of attention loss. <ref name="PRH2023">{{cite web |title=Stolen Focus by Johann Hari |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634289/stolen-focus-by-johann-hari/ |website=Penguin Random House |publisher=Crown |date=25 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref>
Hari argues the problem is not simply personal discipline but structural, calling for collective solutions alongside individual habits. <ref name="Guardian20220102">{{cite news |title=Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media |work=The Guardian |date=2 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025 |last=Hari |first=Johann}}</ref>
The narrative blends reporting with personal episodes—such as a months-long digital detox—and reads in an accessible, magazine-style register. <ref name="Wapo20220122">{{cite news |title=Our attention spans are suffering. Maybe there’s a way to get them back. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/01/22/stolen-focus-johann-hari-book/ |work=The Washington Post |date=22 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025 |last=Haupt |first=Angela}}</ref>
Its UK hardback outline spans fourteen chapters arranged around “causes” and early solutions. <ref name="PagePlaceToC" />
Bloomsbury markets the title as a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. <ref name="BloomsburyHB2022" />
It also won Porchlight’s 2022 Business Book of the Year and appeared on the Financial Times “Best books of 2022: Politics.” <ref name="Porchlight2023">{{cite web |title=The 2022 Porchlight Business Book Awards |url=https://www.porchlightbooks.com/pages/2022-business-book-awards |website=Porchlight Books |publisher=Porchlight Book Company |date=12 January 2023 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="FT20221124">{{cite news |title=Best books of 2022: Politics |url=https://www.ft.com/content/76ec6181-1678-4ce3-9e59-508b126145cc |work=Financial Times |date=24 November 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref>
== Chapter summary ==
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🧒 '''14 – Cause Twelve: The Confinement of Our Children, Both Physically and Psychologically.'''
== Background & reception ==
🖋️ '''Author & writing'''. Hari is a British journalist and the author of ''Chasing the Scream'' (2015) and ''Lost Connections'' (2018). <ref name="PRH2023" /> For ''Stolen Focus'', the publisher describes a three-year investigation in which Hari interviewed leading experts on attention. <ref name="BloomsburyHB2022" /> The U.S. edition from Crown notes the book’s globe-spanning interviews and twelve “causes.” <ref name="PRH2023" /> Reviewers highlighted a reported-nonfiction voice that mixes scene-driven memoir (e.g., a Cape Cod “digital detox”) with synthesis of research and expert testimony. <ref name="Wapo20220122" /> Core UK hardback details (extent and ISBN) are corroborated by OCLC records. <ref name="OCLC1322047143">{{cite web |title=Stolen focus : why you can't pay attention |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/Stolen-focus-%3A-why-you-can%27t-pay-attention/oclc/1322047143 |website=WorldCat |publisher=OCLC |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> The book’s chapter structure—framing “causes” and early solutions—is reflected in the published table of contents. <ref name="PagePlaceToC" />
📈 '''Commercial reception'''. Bloomsbury advertises the book as both a Sunday Times and a New York Times bestseller. <ref name="BloomsburyHB2022" /> Porchlight named it the 2022 Business Book of the Year (announced 12 January 2023). <ref name="Porchlight2023" /> The ''Financial Times'' included it in its “Best books of 2022: Politics.” <ref name="FT20221124" />
👍 '''Praise'''. The ''Washington Post'' praised the book’s readable synthesis and its argument that design choices—not only personal failings—drive distraction. <ref name="Wapo20220122" /> The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' lauded its “incredibly readable” style and ecosystem-level framing beyond individual self-control. <ref name="SFChron20220125">{{cite news |title=Review: How we are squandering our ability to focus, thanks to nonstop tech intrusion |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/review-how-we-are-squandering-our-ability-to-focus-thanks-to-nonstop-tech-intrusion |work=San Francisco Chronicle (Datebook) |date=25 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025 |last=Zarrow |first=Rachel}}</ref> Year-end lists also singled it out, including the ''Financial Times'' politics selection. <ref name="FT20221124" />
👎 '''Criticism'''. In ''The Spectator'', Tom Hodgkinson argued that the book offers familiar nostrums and overstates novelty, questioning the robustness of some evidence. <ref name="Spectator20220205">{{cite news |title=Don’t listen to Johann Hari to help your attention span |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/dont-listen-to-johann-hari-to-help-your-attention-span/ |work=The Spectator |date=5 February 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025 |last=Hodgkinson |first=Tom}}</ref> Psychologist Stuart Ritchie, writing in UnHerd, criticized the reliance on anecdotes and the lack of strong longitudinal evidence for a general collapse in attention. <ref name="UnHerd20220107">{{cite news |title=Johann Hari’s stolen ideas |url=https://unherd.com/2022/01/johann-haris-stolen-ideas/ |work=UnHerd |date=7 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025 |last=Ritchie |first=Stuart}}</ref> The ''Irish Times'' covered these debates, arguing that some of Hari’s social-media claims are overstated while noting broader concerns about platform design. <ref name="IrishTimes20220115">{{cite news |title=Too few of us are paying attention to the problems with Johann Hari’s new book |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/too-few-of-us-are-paying-attention-to-the-problems-with-johann-hari-s-new-book-1.4775651 |work=The Irish Times |date=15 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref>
🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. University libraries and courses have incorporated the book into attention-economy reading lists, such as Leiden University Libraries’ 2023 list “Stolen Focus: Our Brains Online.” <ref name="Leiden20230922">{{cite web |title=Stolen Focus: Our Brains Online – The Reading List |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2023/09/stolen-focus-our-brains-online---the-reading-list |website=Leiden University Libraries |publisher=Leiden University |date=22 September 2023 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref> Public broadcasters featured the author to discuss the book’s arguments, including ABC Radio National’s ''Late Night Live'' (originally aired 27 January 2022; rebroadcast December 2022). <ref name="ABCLNL20220127">{{cite news |title=Stolen Focus – why you can’t pay attention |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/johann-hari-stolen-focus/13719046 |work=ABC Radio National – Late Night Live |date=27 January 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="ABCLNL20221219">{{cite news |title=Stolen Focus – why you can’t pay attention (rebroadcast) |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/johann-hari-stolen-focus/101761868 |work=ABC Radio National – Late Night Live |date=19 December 2022 |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref>
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