The subtitle of this book is "Resisting the Attention Economy," which sounds like it could be a screed against Facebook and Twitter with a prescription to opt out of the capitalist system. Odell certainly does lament that social media companies profit from encouraging our natural tendency for a short attention span. Her remedy, however, is not to head back to nature or retreat to a meditation center; in fact, she has a chapter about how retreat is impossible. Instead she encourages us to "refuse in place" and be more intentional about our attention. Paying closer and more prolonged attention to our surroundings is rewarding in itself, and is a prerequisite for meaningful action.
I find that I'm looking at my phone less these days. It's not because I went to an expensive digital detox retreat, or because I deleted any apps from my phone, or anything like that. I stopped looking at my phone because I was looking at something else, something so absorbing I couldn't turn away.
The most distinctive thing about How to Do Nothing is that Odell's examples of refocusing attention are not spiritual or political but artistic. She is an artist herself and so her touchpoints come from other (mostly contemporary) artists. Art often seeks to redirect your attention or shift the context of your perception, which is exactly what Odell believes we all need to do on a regular basis.
Random fun fact: The next book on my shelf is Weather by Jenny Offill. What are the odds of reading two books in a row by different authors named Jenny O___ll?
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