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

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 [e-mail]
• Read the transcript over at thisishowwecare.com