Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world. Mindfulness, in this way, can be a game changer in an attention economy, because of its direct impact on how the brain functions. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important … but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress.įar from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. The workings of the Attention Economy and what brought about it How this battle for the human attention benefits everyone but you The extent to which corporations will go to secure this priced but scarce resource and most importantly, how you can protect yourself from the activities of these attention merchants. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. Many firms understand the scarcity of our attention, and are adapting their business models to capitalize on it. Odell writes that the ‘externalities of attention economy distractions keep us from doing the things we want to do long term, they keep us from living the lives we want to live.’ It’s not about disconnecting, but rather taking greater care in how we connect and what we use that connection to do, what we communicate and how. Odell sees our attention as the most precious-and overdrawn-resource we have. Oakland-based artist and writer Jenny Odell discusses her debut book 'How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy'.Jenny examines how. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives.

In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

How to resist the attention economy