Jenny Odell

"When the technologies we use every day collapse our experiences into 24/7 availability, platforms for personal branding, and products to be monetized, nothing can be quite so radical as...doing nothing. Here, Jenny Odell sends up a flare from the heart of Silicon Valley, delivering an action plan to resist capitalist narratives of productivity and techno-determinism, and to become more meaningfully connected in the process"--

How to Do Nothing

Annika

Our very idea of productivity is premised on the idea of producing something new, whereas we do not tend to see maintenance and care as productive in the same way.

In a situation where every waking moment has become the time in which we make our living, and when we submit even our leisure for numerical evaluation via likes on Facebook and Instagram, constantly checking on its performance like one checks a stock, monitoring the ongoing development of our personal brand, time becomes an economic resource that we can no longer justify spending on “nothing.” It provides no return on investment; it is simply too expensive. This is a cruel confluence of time and space: just as we lose noncommercial spaces, we also see all of our own time and our actions as potentially commercial.

I recognized the feeling in a passage from Gilles Deleuze in Negotiations:

We’re riddled with pointless talk, insane quantities of words and images. Stupidity’s never blind or mute. So it’s not a problem of getting people to express themselves but of providing little gaps of solitude and silence in which they might eventually find something to say. Repressive forces don’t stop people expressing themselves but rather force them to express themselves; what a relief to have nothing to say, the right to say nothing, because only then is there a chance of framing the rare, and ever rarer, thing that might be worth saying.

fvrests

When we take an instrumental or even algorithmic view of friendship and recognition, or fortify the imagined bastion of the self against change, or even just fail to see that we affect and are affected by others (even and especially those we do not see)—then we unnaturally corral our attention to others and to the places we inhabit together. It is with acts of attention that we decide who to hear, who to see, and who in our world has agency. In this way, attention forms the ground not just for love, but for ethics.

But successful collective refusals enact a second-order level of discipline and training, in which individuals align with each other to form flexible structures of agreement that can hold open the space of refusal. This collective alignment emerges as a product of intense individual self-discipline—like a crowd of Thoreaus refusing in tandem. In so doing, the "third space"—not of retreat, but of refusal, boycott, and sabotage—can become a spectacle of noncompliance that registers on the larger scale of the public.

But most important, standing apart represents the moment in which the desperate desire to leave (forever!) matures into a commitment to live in permanent refusal, where one already is, and to meet others in the common space of that refusal. This kind of resistance still manifests as participating, but participating in the "wrong way": a way that undermines the authority of the hegemonic game and creates possibilities outside of it.

I hope that the figure of “doing nothing” in opposition to a productivity-obsessed environment can help restore individuals who can then help restore communities, human and beyond. And most of all, I hope it can help people find ways of connecting that are substantive, sustaining, and absolutely unprofitable to corporations, whose metrics and algorithms have never belonged in the conversations we have about our thoughts, our feelings, and our survival.

Claudine

It means embracing and trying to inhabit somewhat fuzzier or blobbier ideas: of maintenance as productivity, of the importance of nonverbal communication, and of the mere experience of life as the highest goal. It means recognizing and celebrating a form of the self that changes over time, exceeds algorithmic description, and whose identity doesn’t always stop at the boundary of the individual.

But the villain here is not necessarily the Internet, or even the idea of social media; it is the invasive logic of commercial social media and its financial incentive to keep us in a profitable state of anxiety, envy, and distraction. It is furthermore the cult of individuality and personal branding that grow out of such platforms and affect the way we think about our offline selves and the places where we actually live.

From either a social or ecological perspective, the ultimate goal of “doing nothing” is to wrest our focus from the attention economy and replant it in the public, physical realm.

Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram act like dams that capitalize on our natural interest in others and an ageless need for community, hijacking and frustrating our most innate desires, and profiting from them. Solitude, observation, and simple conviviality should be recognized not only as ends in and of themselves, but inalienable rights belonging to anyone lucky enough to be alive. 

Living between the mountains and this hyper accelerated, entrepreneurial culture, I can't help but ask the question: What does it mean to construct digital worlds while the actual world is crumbling before our eyes?

It is furthermore the cult of individuality and personal branding that grow out of such platforms and affect the way we think about our offline selves and the places where we actually live. 

I am concerned about the effects of current social media on expression-including the right not to express oneself and its deliberately addictive features. 

Look back in memory and consider… how many have robbed you of life when yo not aware of what you were losing, how much was taken up in useless sorrow, in foolish joy, in greedy desire, in the allurements of society, how little of yourself was left to you; you will perceive that you are dying before your season!

** A New York Times Bestseller ** "A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto."—Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times Book Review One of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time • The New Yorker • NPR • GQ • Elle • Vulture • Fortune • Boing Boing • The Irish Times • The New York Public Library • The Brooklyn Public Library Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year 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 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.

Resisting the Attention Economy

Pola Schwöbel

Gregor Gross

Laura

Hannah Yang

perhaps it's ironic to review this book immediately after finishing instead of taking the time to process my many thoughts about it, but here i am! how to do nothing is an absolute gift. while definitely not a straightforward how-to book with principles for how to live life mindfully and productively, this book provides the kind of 'self help' i didn't really expect, and didn't know that i needed. 

jenny odell flutters between her premise of resisting context-less, attention-abusing technologies and social media platforms and broader topics like sense of self, place and time, ecologies, relationships with others and nature, inequality and politics, and restoration of many kinds. refreshingly, she draws not only from research but also art and philosophy -- describing how specific exhibits influenced her thinking and how buber (<3)'s concept of i-thou relationships can become a framework for how we choose to interact with the world.

for me, odell's articulation of her frustrations with social media (demanding immediate response and engagement rather than slower, more thought-out and fulfilling interactions), the connections she drew between attention and willpower (and how this has larger implications on how we act and make tangible changes to the communities we are a part of), and her re-definition of productivity and progress and creativity with particular attention to ecology and symbiotic relationships were the most helpful concepts to consider.

but there is a lot to think about here!! every chapter introduces a multitude of ideas, and i felt that many of the points made were more resonant or comprehensible when i knew about the text or artwork odell was referencing. this is understandable unappealing if you aren't familiar with those texts or artworks. still, i think the book feels like a safe space to return for reflection and rumination -- so if you chose to allot more attention to this book by looking into odell's sources and inspirations, i'm sure it would become more meaningful with each reread.

i'm doubtful that redirecting our attention in the ways that odell suggests would be sufficient for fixing the many issues that odell discusses -- besides reclaiming our use of technology, attention still feels somewhat tangentially related. to be fair, i think that odell would only claim that attention is a useful first step in a web of interconnected steps (with adjacent steps like restoring physical habitats, creating spaces for genuine discourse, generally accepting that humanity need not be the center of the universe). but while i may not have ended this book in clarity, i definitely finished this book with a renewed sense of hope. i think that if everyone were to live with odell's ideas in mind, we could be well on our way towards a more balanced, thoughtful, equitable, enriching, and happy universe. a must read (and must re-read)!

i appreciate what this book what trying to do and while I appreciate and agree with the core message, I think the book was a bit too long and meandering, failing to find a focus, and seeming to lack a clear compelling argument. I can't help but feel like it fell short because of that.

rumbledethumps

Another book spawned by the shock of the 2016 US Presidential election, and the “personal crisis” it caused for the author. 

Obvious observations treated as revelations. The author never neglects to remind us that she is “an artist” as if that is supposed to add credibility.

Well-researched, with interesting historical perspectives on the merits of publicly and conscientiously objecting to the harmful aspects of our society versus the innate urge to escape and abstain. Odell makes a contemplative and compelling argument for breaking the patterns of distraction upheld by the attention economy in order to boldly practice care for the natural world and the others in our communities.

Keven Wang

Very strong start of the book. But the later portions lost me

Alli

40% descriptions of art, 40% lengthy quotes from other people’s papers/books, 15% birds and 5% relevant conclusions

Gisela Ayala 

A galvanising critique of the forces vying for our attention - and our personal information - that redefines what we think of as productivity and reveals what we've been too distracted to see about ourselves and our world. Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our data productivity, doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance. So argues artist and critic Jenny Odell in this field guide to slowing down. Odell sees our attention as the most precious - and overdrawn - resource we have. Once we can start paying a new kind of attention, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humanity's role in the environment, and arrive at a more meaningful understanding of happiness and fulfilment. Far from a simple anti-technology screed, or a pointless back-to-nature meditation, How to Do Nothing is an action plan for thinking beyond capitalist narratives of efficiency and value. Provocative, timely and utterly persuasive, it shows us how to preserve our inner lives and bring about change in a world that needs this more than ever. 'A manifesto for the internet age.'-The A.V. Club 'An invigorating meditation on ways of seeing and being more present ... It's a book that could change you for the better.'-LitHub

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

one of the best essays i have read so far. if you are curious about how our attention is commodified and how we can bring it back to the things that really count - while digging into beautiful curated and described artworks: this is your book. 

antonia maria wagner she/they

Ashley Johnson

If you are a human in 2019, I implore you to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book which is a perfect one to read on holiday.  Would have liked some non-US examples of what the author was discussing (hence 4 stars) but overall a good read which made me reflect on my own use of technology - and relationship with my environment.

Doug Belshaw

Angel Martinez

Most conflicting book I've ever read!!! Some chapters I adored and highlighted the hell out of, while others just made me want to chuck the whole thing out the window... Still would recommend to anyone though because reviews are just so polarizing, you'll really have to figure out what you feel about this for yourself

Queena Li

Read if you like: Going "hmmmm" at all of the tiny placards in museums, regenerative agriculture, trying to name as many species of salmon as you can, community gardens, "the good life"

Emma Friedheim

There were some interesting nuggets in here but overall I wasn’t blown away. Certainly a thought-provoking thesis and interesting approach, but it didn’t fully connect for me. I almost feel like it would work better as a long form essay rather than necessitating an entire book? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Dora Tominic

Disclaimer: this is not a review.

Intuition brings these topics to me often and as often I am unable to articulate them. It's beautiful that someone reflected them back to me in actual words that can be used to communicate. 

In the middle of the book, I was in Paris. And it goes with this book to write it down. The light captured on the canvases in d'Orsay, bluish gold, the one so familiar and otherwordly every time it appears, giving us an idea of more and hope and all those cringy ideas I'm desperate for..., so that light coming to life, and my friends. You know how when you're young and you experience stuff but you are too I don't know what to realize how happy you are or that you are even there and then the only way you actually experience those things is nostalgia? This was the opposite.  

Udit Desai

It was difficult to read a lot of the book, I think the author's writing just didn't match my vibe. It was also a lot more ecological than I thought it would be.

Some quotes from it were amazing though: "what a relief to have nothing to say"

Kelly Kim

I picked up this book with hopes to absolve myself from the guilt of spending 12+ hours doing 'work' on my phone/computer, feeling dissatisfied with myself and still having to count sheep to go to sleep.
Through a comforting balance of anecdotes and philosophical foundations, Odell injects vibrancy into the notion of 'work' itself. Not least because of the current attention economy, the modern day notion of 'productivity' is perhaps, closer to futility. By going outside, and listening to the wind rustle the trees - you might optimise methods of communication. The same goes for contextualising the role of 'space' in our 'productive endeavours'. It's not the volume of work we do, it's the way we direct the effort we do put in - with intention and consideration for the parties involved - that will create meaningful change.

Sloan, Kara

Ok I loved this book! A call for embodied and disciplined attention, rooted in time and space. Definitely worth looking up and chewing on some of the references used as well. Especially the artworks if you're not familiar with them. 💚 
Perhaps I'm missing art; the theory and making of it. Or maybe I'm really sick of being 'sold' and 'sold to' all the time. Maybe a bit of both. Either way this hit the nail on the head for me and I will probably read it again at some point.

Olivera Mitić

Čini mi se da Dženi Odel nije bila prava osoba za pisanje ove knjige. Odnosno, ono što je ona napisala nije bilo ono što sam ja o temi ekonomije pažnje htela da pročitam. 

Previše faktografski i robotizovano i sa nedovoljno ličnih iskustava isprepletanih u jedan narativ nalik akademskom. Nadala sam se ličnoj priči i realnim poteškoćama na koje nailazimo u 21. veku ako imamo internet, a dobila sam dosta suvoparno štivo koje je o mnogo čemu pričalo, a nekako najmanje o temi iz naslova i podnaslova. 

Najviše sam se razočarala jer sam samoj sebi nahajpovala ovu knjigu na osnovu 2-3 recenzije osoba koje inače ne slušam za preporuke. Nevermore.

Luke Leighfield

This book is kind of a philosophical accompaniment to Cal Newport’s ‘Digital Minimalism’. Rather than getting into the nitty-gritty of how we can spend less time on our phones, or why we should quit social media entirely, it encourages us to take a fresh look at how we interact with the world. It also taught me a heck of a lot about birds 🐦

‘In a situation where every waking moment has become the time in which we make our living, and when we submit even our leisure for numerical evaluation via likes on Facebook and Instagram, constantly checking on its performance like one checks a stock, monitoring the ongoing development of our personal brand, time becomes an economic resource that we can no longer justify spending on “nothing.”’

Ruby Huber

This is not what I expected it to be and that’s on me. This is great, this is something I actually regret listening to because I feel like I want to read it with my eyeballs. This will offer you some anti-capitalist perspective and also suggest you take notice and control of who and what gets your attention without your permission!!!!!!

Kaylah Rodriguez

Oh my goodness I swear I have something underlined on every page of this book. Despite the title, it is not actually about literally doing nothing, but rather having a deeper understanding of what it means to pay attention, how our attention is commodified, and empowering ourselves to take back control of our attention. Odell examines attention as it relates to our relationships, the creation & consumption of art, political activism, bio-regionalism, and our inner lives. She manages to cover a ton of ground in a very short book without being shallow, and is deeply philosophical without being pretentious or unapproachable. I loved this so much and it reignited a little spark of hope in me that I didn’t even know had gone out. Read this if equating value with productivity is something you’re ready to be done with and if you’re kind of over having your brain constantly pulled in 37 directions at once.
ALSO - prettiest cover probably ever, am I right? 😍

Andrew Marti

A small book dense with ideas and concepts that are worth their own books.

Here are just a few concepts that hit me hard:
- The endless pursuit of productivity is destructive in many ways, including our own ecosystem.
- Social media asks us to adopt one persona, which is disorienting and unnatural. We have personas for the different aspects of our lives: work, neighbors, college friends. It’s healthy and normal to have a different persona for each.
- The attention economy destroys our ability to concentrate, which leads to a perpetual state of chaos. By pulling away from social media to focus on new things, we bring ourselves to a state of openness to learn new things.
- Creativity is not always in building. Sometimes creativity can be found in the dismantling of structures or of old ways of doing things.

Anyaconda

This is one of the books I have to sit on a bit more. 
I love some of her thoughts about connecting with nature and giving up the self-pressure of constant growth, comparison, productivity and focusing our attention on things that don't make us happy.
The art exhibition parts and bird watching anecdotes got a bit repetitive over time, but nonetheless there were things I took away from this book.

Laura Dobie

An interesting read about how to resist the attention economy, that also highlights the privilege associated with refusal. I particularly liked the reflections on context, technology and different kinds of networks, and the the descriptions of birds, in which I’ve developed an interest recently.

How to Do Nothing

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