This Is How We Care

087: How We Save Our Attention and Time with Jenny Odell

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In this conversation, Emily sits down with Jenny Odell — artist and author of "Saving Time" and "How to Do Nothing" — to explore the importance of reclaiming our attention and time in a digital age. We explore how "learning" is becoming a lost art (and what to do about that),  

experience and the role of technology in shaping our lives. From years of observation, research and her own study, Jenny brings a world-changing perspective to how we find our freedom from the forces that pull to commodify and measure every minute and relationship in our lives.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • The moment at summer camp that shaped how Jenny thinks about learning, presence, and attention
  • How we can retain human agency in a world constantly fighting for our attention
  • The historical roots of "productivity culture" and how it lives on today
  • The role of language in shaping our relationship to time
  • What the "attention economy" is and the impact it is having
  • Why people sitting in a circle might be "the highest form of human existence"
  • The nuance beneath the statement "the internet is bad"
  • Why repair cafes, cooperatives, and habitat restoration projects point toward the world we're trying to build inside the one we're currently in 

    • Resources & Links

    • Connect with Jenny at her website, www.jennyodell.com, on instagram https://www.instagram.com/jennitaur/ or on Mastadon https://social.coop/@jennitaur/
    • Check out her books How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy , Inhabiting Negative Space  and Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock 
    • Also mentioned in this episode: iNaturalist, Mastodon, The Repair Cafe movement, Vivarium (2019 film),  An Immense World by Ed Yong 

      • Bring this conversation into practice:

      • Join The Third Space, a practice prayer and play space to bring these visions to life with other "revillagers" who are tending to their communities IRL. Learn more or sign up here: www.revillagingmama.com/offers#thethirdspace

        • To stay in touch:

        • Follow This Is How We Care on Instagram 
        • Send an email to Emily at [email protected] 
        • Read the transcript over at  thisishowwecare.com  
          • ...more
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          This Is How We CareBy Emily Race-Newmark