Attention: A Love Story

"The author of In the Mind Fields now gives us a comprehensive journalistic exploration of our culture's flagging ability to pay attention, infused with the personal struggles and insights of a woman coming to terms with the demands and distractions of the information age. The average American checks their phone 150 times a day, but we touch our phones about 2,617 times in those same hours. Casey Schwartz wants to understand this change in our lives that seemingly happened without our consent. From attention disorders and medications, mindfulness, psychedelics and creativity, to a brief history of distraction itself, Schwartz acts as our sympathetic and qualified guide. Both validating and galvanizing, Attention examines our lives ruled by distraction. Schwartz's personal attempt to revive her attention ("I'm in as deep as anyone, as splintered, dependent, and distracted. I am jittery and incomplete without my phone") and preserve her authentic life will resonate with readers who also find it very nearly impossible to avoid the pixilated siren call of our screens"--