Book 'Focus On‑Off' says attention can be managed despite modern distractions

In the new book Focus On‑Off, Dutch experts Mark Tigchelaar and Oscar de Bos argue that people can better harness attention despite modern distractions; De Bos, head of the training company Focus Company, spoke to the Guardian over Zoom from Amsterdam. The article notes we may have about 50,000 thoughts a day, that every second some 11 million bits of information enter our brains and only around 0.0004% is perceived by conscious minds, which helps explain why we often feel distracted.

De Bos challenges the idea that concentrating is inherently hard, saying the brain is prioritising what feels most relevant — for example, hearing your name at a party can cause a subconscious shift of attention. He suggests managing common “leaks” of concentration: make boring tasks more interesting, move to quieter environments, write down wandering thoughts and give the brain breaks it needs.

The piece warns that simply silencing notifications is not enough: a 2017 University of Texas study found participants performed better on complex cognitive tasks when their phones were in a different room compared with when devices were in sight or even in a pocket, and the mere presence of a phone can reduce working memory and fluid intelligence.

De Bos recommends moving phones to another room or turning them off for deep work and keeping workspaces and browser tabs minimal. Myths about ‘flow’ and multitasking are questioned.

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