Our Inability to Focus is More Dangerous Than You Think
Neil Postman and Aldous Huxley were right all along.
(Written during the Los Angeles wildfires in January of 2025)
The City of Angels has been on fire this week.
A horrific series of events—unusually high winds, drought-like conditions, and dry air—has led to devastating wildfires. Eucalyptus and other non-native trees in the wildland-urban interface have only made matters worse. Most of us have seen these stories.
Here’s the most concerning thing: the news (which, for many, is now an infinite scroll feed on social media) will change in a matter of moments. In fact, it already has. These fires are a blip on the screen, now, as you read this, being replaced by a million other things—mostly innocuous information designed to create a reaction of either seething or laughter.
It’s super easy to get there.
Click on a YouTube video titled "Breaking News: California Fires Devastate Communities." As the reporter segues into climate policy, the algorithm of “suggested videos” whispers in the sidebar: "Wouldn’t you rather watch a cat knock over a full glass of orange juice onto its owner's laptop?" An hour later, you're nine videos deep into "Top 10 Cat Pranks That Went Too Far." Meanwhile, California is still on fire, and we’re emotionally invested in a tuxedo cat named Frankfurter who, ironically, just stole a hotdog.
And you, right now, are thinking about searching to see if any of these videos are real.
Our society is incapable of collective focus. And it’s an enormous problem.
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one … This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.”
—Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
Are We Living in Huxley’s World?
Postman’s prophetic words are ringing true in 2025. A study involving over 26,000 Americans found that between 2004 and 2017, women read 29% less, and men read 40% less. Worse still, 57% of Americans don’t read a single book in a typical year.
While averages can be misleading, consider this: the average American spends 17 minutes per day reading books and 5.4 hours per day on their phone.
Book bans are pointless.
We don’t read, anyway.
We have an attention problem. And it’s not entirely our fault.
The Theft of Focus
Johann Hari’s book Stolen Focus examines our society’s inability to read or focus as one of many culprits behind our collective attention crisis. Hari uses his journalistic expertise to tackle this sprawling issue.
Most of us think our inability to focus is an individual “me problem.” We blame ourselves for lacking discipline. But this is bigger than any one person. Attention capitalism—a system designed to monetize our distraction—is built to steal our focus.
This system keeps so many people from pursuing their dreams: writing a novel, learning to code, or starting a YouTube channel. Anything requiring sustained effort becomes an impossible dream. Instead, we opt for the next easiest thing: answering an email, doomscrolling, or watching Instagram reels.
We beat ourselves up for it. We try digital detoxes, swear off social media for a week, a month, or forever. But we’re sucked back into the scroll.
Take a moment next time you’re in public—at an airport or a restaurant. Look around. The number of people glued to their phones is disturbing.
The Design Is Intentional
This is exactly what companies like Meta and Google want. More time spent on their platforms means more advertising dollars and greater profits.
Their apps game your attention, by design. Features like infinite scroll, likes, and retweets aren’t accidental. They’re intentional tools to keep you engaged to their platform for as long as possible.
A memorable, and somewhat disturbing, scene in the documentary The Social Dilemma (available on Netflix) anthropomorphizes the algorithm. It shows how these systems predict your actions—not to sell your data, but to predict your next move, so they can guide your next purchase.
We’ve all had the same eerie experience: mentioning something in passing during a conversation only to see an ad for it hours later. While they aren’t literally listening (supposedly?), the algorithms are so advanced it feels like sorcery.
The Cost of Distraction
Our inability to focus has robbed us of the capacity to tackle society’s biggest challenges.
Just a few decades ago, we were a different society. In 1974, scientists discovered that chemicals in everyday products like hairspray and refrigerators were destroying the ozone layer. By the mid-1980s, scientists, indeed, discovered a massive hole in the ozone layer over the South Pole. In response, 197 countries collaborated to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), averting an ecological disaster.
This kind of global cooperation feels impossible today. We can’t sustain focus on a problem long enough to solve anything but, perhaps, how to train a cat to spill orange juice on the laptops of our enemies.
Attention Capitalism vs. Collective Action
Attention capitalism prevents us from addressing critical issues like the climate crisis. Instead, we’re manipulated into chasing the next thing big tech wants us to see. The thing we will laugh or rage at.
We live in a world that has overproduced and over-consumed itself to the brink of catastrophe. We absolutely cannot rely on those at the top of the system to fix it.
The system is their source of power.
Power protects itself. It sacrifices people to preserve the system, not the other way around.
We must use what power we have to tear the system down.
The Leadership Skill We Need
One of the most underrated leadership skills is the ability to focus—to think deeply, create intentionally, and solve problems effectively. Generative leaders carve out the time to focus and act accordingly.
Focus isn’t just nice to have. It’s essential for survival.
You need your focus.
In fact, we all need your focus.
The future of the world may very well depend on it.
You are doing better than you think.
I write an every Sunday-ish essay over on Substack containing bits and bobs of what I’m reading, writing, watching, thinking, and experimenting with this week. It’s always free. But if you like it and want to upgrade your subscription to paid, it will certainly help fund the coffee necessary to keep writing.
I am a consultant, coach, and trainer with Growability® Consulting, specializing in non-profit, cross-cultural business, and leadership. Check out the Growability® Podcast at all your favorite podcast places. Would you like help with tools for managing your organization, time, and projects? Connect with me. Let's grab coffee. (Virtual or IRL!)
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