It's Not Us

It's Not Us

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It's Not Us
It's Not Us
The People Who Don't Want You to Sleep

The People Who Don't Want You to Sleep

Can't put your phone down? It's not you.

Sara Eckel's avatar
Sara Eckel
May 16, 2023
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It's Not Us
It's Not Us
The People Who Don't Want You to Sleep
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

When former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris testified before the U.S. Senate in 2019, he explained why so many of us are perpetually distracted by our phones: “You can try having self-control, but there are a thousand engineers on the other side of the screen working against you.”

Ever since I read that quote in Johann Hari’s book, Stolen Focus, I’ve repeated it dozens of times to friends and family members.

I remember it late at night, when instead of selecting a book from the teetering stack on my nightstand, I take another roulette-wheel spin on Instagram, watching videos of strangers’ pets and babies. I know it’s not the best use of my time, but I worked hard all day and I’m tired and oh my lord it’s a goat and a duck who are best friends!

I think about it when friends with graduate degrees from Ivy League colleges tell me they barely have the attention span to read books or longform journalism anymore. Or when, instead of writing another paragrap…

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