“Slowness nurtures attention, and speed shatters it.”

Why it was said

Johann Hari writes this in Stolen Focus (2022) while describing the first of the twelve causes he identifies for our weakening attention: the rising speed at which information reaches us, and the constant switching and filtering it demands.

What it actually means

Hari's claim is that the pace of modern life is not a neutral backdrop to distraction but one of its causes. When information arrives faster than we can process it, we skim, switch and filter, and each switch costs time and accuracy. Slowness, in this view, is not laziness; it is the condition under which deep reading, careful thinking and real conversation become possible. The line challenges the habit of measuring productivity by volume. Some of the evidence Hari draws on, particularly about long-term declines in attention, is still debated among researchers, but the narrower point about the cost of task-switching is well supported. The practical question for the reader is where speed is a choice rather than a necessity.

How to use it

1. 1Give one task that needs real thought an unbroken block of at least 45 minutes today, with notifications off.
2. 2Count how often in an hour you switch between apps or tasks, then try to halve it for one afternoon.