Johann Hari Argues Your Attention Didn’t Collapse, It Was Stolen

Johann Hari has described an ongoing global crisis of attention as tantamount to a crisis of human effectiveness.

During his keynote at SXSW Sydney, the author said the key components of surveillance capitalism, including social media algorithms, are best understood as machines “designed to frack your attention.”

Johann said that the pressures of the modern attention economy have contributed to an effectiveness crisis.

“The crisis of attention is a crisis of being a human being,” Johann said.

His broader message focused on how our attention spans are being systematically diminished, eroding our ability to live meaningfully.

Johann reflected on his own struggles with attention, outlining to a packed Darling Theatre at Sydney’s International Convention Centre that our attention spans are being systematically diminished, eroding our ability to live meaningfully.

Referencing a study by Professor Michael Posner of the University of Oregon, Johann explained that it takes an average of 23 minutes to regain focus after being interrupted by something as trivial as a text message. With constant distractions, “we are constantly operating at a lower level of cognitive capacity,” he said.

Johann said the relentless interruptions in modern life contribute to a phenomenon called the “switch cost effect,” wherein people juggle between tasks quickly. This decreases cognitive performance and makes us less creative and more prone to errors.

Johann’s concern lies in the mechanisms of surveillance capitalism, which he says is damaging our ability to focus. As Johann described, surveillance capitalism is a business model in which tech companies gather massive amounts of data from users not to improve user experience but to maximise the time users spend on their platforms.

Social media algorithms are crafted to provoke engagement, often by exploiting our natural tendency to focus on negative or alarming content. “If it’s enraging, it’s engaging,” Johann remarked.

He expressed hope, though, emphasising that this is a business-model problem, rather than a technology problem. 

“In a subscription model, all the incentives change. At the moment, if you're any of these companies, your incentive is to invade and frack data in order to keep people scrolling as long as possible.”

He argued that while social media platforms are currently incentivised to maximise user engagement at all costs, this could change with regulatory intervention. 

“We all know how Netflix works – you pay a small amount in return, you get access,” he said.

“Under a subscription model, all the incentives change. Suddenly, you are the customer. Suddenly, tech companies must ask what you want from the platform.”

Banning surveillance capitalism, Johann says,  could force platforms to shift towards a subscription-based model, where users pay for services upfront and are treated as customers rather than products.

Johann also drew attention to the implications of this crisis on democracy.

“Democracy is the most precious form of collective attention,” he said, explaining that as algorithms push us toward more divisive and negative content, they exacerbate social fragmentation and degrade the public’s ability to engage meaningfully in democratic processes.

Ultimately, Johann called for collective action against the forces that are degrading our attention.

“We need to stop getting angry at ourselves, and start getting angry at them.”