The High Performance Podcast Your Attention is Being Stolen — and Here's How to Take it Back | Johann Hari
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Mar 13, 2026 
Johann Hari, NYT bestselling author and investigator of mental health and attention, explains how tech harvests our focus and what to do about it. He discusses what social media creators privately think, three concrete parental steps to protect kids’ phones, and why systemic political action—likened to banning leaded petrol—is needed to reclaim attention.
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Three Immediate Parent Actions To Protect Attention
- Do three practical things for kids: use a K-safe nightly, install Freedom app, and give a light phone instead of a smartphone.
- Hari recommends starting with 15 minutes in a K-safe, pre-commitment with Freedom, and a light phone for reduced internet access.
Use Precommitment Tools Like Freedom
- Use pre-commitment tools to block temptations: install Freedom to block sites or the entire internet for set periods.
- Hari uses Freedom and permanent blocks on his phone and frames it as preventing late-night lapses.
Give Kids A Light Phone Instead Of A Smartphone
- Replace full smartphones with light phones for kids to keep calling and messaging but prevent endless internet scrolling.
- Hari suggests a light phone (~£200) for maps and limited music while restricting full web access.