How to Do Nothing

Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell

232 pages

Published May 21, 2019

ISBN:: 978-1-61219-749-4
Goodreads:: 42771901

(8 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.

3 editions

bluestocking reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Ehhh...

3 stars

This is really just okay. I got excited at first at the beginning when she mentioned being from the Bay Area and growing up in a similar environment to what I did (parents working in tech, growing up in strip mall suburbia in the South Bay), but overall I just wasn't impressed with the arguments made or the examples of how one should "resist the attention economy." It felt deeply individualistic--very "well just use your willpower to put your phone down and touch grass sometimes!" Reading this in 2025, with knowledge about things like dark patterns, the degree to which our behavior is constantly tracked (and, arguably, in some ways even predetermined by tech algorithms), the ways this information is being utilized to cause real harm and violence on a mass scale... it just didn't hit.

I did appreciate the degree of historical grounding re: things like the hippie communes …

I did appreciate the degree of historical grounding re: things like the hippie communes of the 60s and 70s and how "dropping out" isn't really the option we might fantasize about. Still, the suggestions made throughout the book didn't smack of "resistance" to me. It just came off as a middle-class white woman from one of the most privileged places on earth (speaking as a middle-class white woman from just down the road) universalizing advice and experiences that are not particularly useful or applicable to anyone else. I'd skip this one.

Lucas reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Lots of neat quotes and digressions; little coherent argument

2 stars

Am disappointed by Odell's How to do Nothing—at least Odell's part—as it is, at its core, a self-hating self-help book about paying attention, which she has Katamari'd through some interesting stuff by other authors.

The book seems an earnest project that, well, starts as if to address material and political circumstances—but doesn't, and instead champions a vague programme of paying attention better (and that, if you don't, you don't have access to a true and full human experience).

Like, it's not dissimilar to Flow. Except that it's wearing a lot of stuff from Thoreau, Buber, Solnit, Ehrenrich and mentions some cool art installations.

Victor Villas reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Not about doing nothing?

3 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 on 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.

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.

Jesse Atkinson reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I wish I could make everyone read this book. It’s just so damn good and very powerful.

It’s short. Please read it. I’ll be revisiting sections of this probably for the rest of my life. And also reading this has ballooned my “to read” pile immensely.

Kantolope reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Doing Nothing is a Lot of Work

4 stars

A fantastic work of cultural critique with some deep ecology thrown in to fill the void where apps used to be. It gets a little unfocused near the end, but the fist 75% is so good. It provides an excellent overview on generative refusal, amateur ecology, and community connectedness presented from the point of view of a tech enthusiast turned bird-watcher.

Mignon

rated it

Sept. 30, 2020

pootriarch

rated it

March 20, 2021

Subjects

attention