How to Do Nothing

Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell

256 pages

Published May 21, 2019

ISBN:: 978-1-61219-749-4

(9 reviews)

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. 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.

Odell sees our attention as the most precious—and overdrawn—resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. 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.

Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an …

Far 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. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.

1 edition

Victor Villas reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Not about doing nothing?

2 stars

The main thesis is against consumerism, optimization, productivity and utility. Intentionally or not, my experience of the book embodied those principles: most of the times I was lost in thought or had already forgotten what the original argumentative line was; I was strolling around an unkept park of ideas. I wasn't expecting so much of the book to focus o the praise of specific artists, the blessings of bird watching, and Oakland.

A lot of the commentary is written like in-the-weeds literary criticism, which I think is a bit unapproachable for people not used to speaking in highly abstract concepts and so many analogies, metaphors and metonymies. Not a book for me, I guess maybe because I need some prior "manifest dismantling" of my ideals on how books ought to be written.

oxytocin reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Way better than I expected

5 stars

Not a “self-help” book, it is a call to action. There were some pretty good ideas in there, and helpful references/anecdotes.

Laban reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Great book, will re-read

5 stars

Very interesting book. It's not a self-help-grifty "run away from social media and generate more value for your boss" book as you might assume from the title--in fact, it challenges our deeply mistaken definitions of productivity and progress and shows how those ideas ultimately hurt us.

There were a lot of striking observations in this book: about productivity, algorithms, and particularly the natural world. My only complaint is that the section talking about art history felt a bit long and ramble-y and I don't get how it connects to the book's argument. Regardless, I plan to borrow and re-read this soon.

Caliwegian reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Unique and Intriguing

4 stars

An artist's perspective on the commodification of attention and potential paths of resistance by seeking a deeper connection to the local environment.

Jonathan Zacsh reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Excellent book. Going right into my to-reread list.

5 stars

Going into my reread list. There's a surprising amount of good history in here that I wasn't expecting.

Rev. Dr. Sir Wayne Murillo III reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How to Do Nothing' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

In Overdue, Oliver (@aelaineo) mentions the vast destruction that social media has done to our connections with each other and information. While providing this diagnosis, Oliver mentioned Jenny Odell's (@the_jennitaur) How to Do Nothing, a glorious book.

I spend too much time on the Twitter and don't really have much to show for it. Odell urges us to replace our rather shallow connections with social media with a deeper connection to place and people.

Odell makes several main points in the book:

A) Doing "nothing" and refusing is a great form of life and resistance.
B) Reclaiming our attention is a way to do "nothing" in the attention economy.
C) Removing your attention requires you to have a place to put it. You can change your habits of attention with art, nature, and the community around you.
D) There are many ways to continue to use technology to connect but refuse the attention economy.
E) Once we have placed our attention on something else, we can actually do something good for our communities with it.
F) Manifest Deconstruction: as overturning the legacy of misguided thinking about the economy that has caused the problems we are facing now such as the issues that are intertwined and emerge within public space, environmental politics, class, and race
G) Context Collapse: the flattening of multiple audiences into a single context

All of that sounds obvious, but the way Odell delivers this information is compelling.

How to Do Nothing is worth your time.

Nibsy

rated it

June 13, 2022

gregorgross

rated it

June 21, 2022

John Kelly

rated it

Jan. 7, 2021

Subjects

attention

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