Big Tech hijacked our attention. Chris Hayes wants to win it back episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 1, 2025 · 30 MIN

Big Tech hijacked our attention. Chris Hayes wants to win it back

from The Decibel · host The Globe and Mail

Presenting Machines Like Us, a Globe and Mail podcast on technology and people.We are living in a world of perpetual distraction. There are more things to read, watch and listen to than ever before – but our brains, it turns out, can only absorb so much. Politicians like Donald Trump have figured out how to exploit this dynamic. If you’re constantly saying outrageous things, it becomes almost impossible to focus on the things that really matter. Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon called this strategy “flooding the zone.”As the host of the MSNBC show All In, Chris Hayes has had a front-row seat to the war for our attention – and, now, he’s decided to sound the alarm with a new book called The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource.Hayes joins Machines Like Us host Taylor Owen to explain how our attention became so scarce, and what happens to us when we lose the ability to focus on the things that matter most. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Presenting Machines Like Us, a Globe and Mail podcast on technology and people. We are living in a world of perpetual distraction. There are more things to read, watch and listen to than ever before – but our brains, it turns out, can only absorb so much. Politicians like Donald Trump have figured out how to exploit this dynamic. If you’re constantly saying outrageous things, it becomes almost impossible to focus on the things that really matter. Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon called this strategy “flooding the zone.” As the host of the MSNBC show All In, Chris Hayes has had a front-row seat to the war for our attention – and, now, he’s decided to sound the alarm with a new book called The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource.Hayes joins Machines Like Us host Taylor Owen to explain how our attention became so scarce, and what happens to us when we lose the ability to focus on the things that matter most.

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Big Tech hijacked our attention. Chris Hayes wants to win it back

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Presenting Machines Like Us, a Globe and Mail podcast on technology and people.We are living in a world of perpetual distraction. There are more things to read, watch and listen to than ever before – but our brains, it turns out, can only absorb so...

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