The Responsibility to Focus
Why democracy depends on it and how to play your part
Something is quietly eroding the foundations of democracy. It’s not just disinformation, polarization, or authoritarian drift.
It’s our collective inability to focus.
Every day, our attention is pulled in a thousand directions. Outrage, updates, opinions, endless distraction. We’re swiping, scrolling, reacting, GPT'ing, but barely thinking. Barely listening. Barely pausing.
This is exhausting.
And it's dangerous, because democracy depends on our ability to focus:
If we can’t focus, we can’t choose wisely.
If we can’t choose wisely, we can’t govern ourselves.
If we can’t focus, we can’t choose wisely.
Wise decision-making requires deliberative thought, not instinctive reaction. According to Daniel Kahneman's dual-process theory, we rely on two systems of thinking: System 1, which is fast, automatic, and biased; and System 2, which is slow, logical, and effortful. System 2 depends on sustained, focused attention. When our attention is fragmented, we default to System 1, becoming more susceptible to cognitive biases like availability, substitution, and framing effects.
Beyond this, attention is essential to executive function: the set of cognitive abilities that includes inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. These allow us to evaluate trade-offs, regulate impulses, and align decisions with long-term goals. When distracted, multitasking, tired or stressed, executive control deteriorates, which leads to short-sighted and emotionally driven decisions.
Finally, attention acts as a filter: it determines which information enters our reasoning process and what we perceive as valuable. If our attention is captured by noise (notifications, outrage, sensational headlines) we risk overweighting the trivial and ignoring the consequential. Attention amplifies perceived value, distorting our sense of importance.
In short, attention is the foundation of deliberation. Without it, the very capacity for wise judgment collapses.
And if we can’t choose wisely, we can’t govern ourselves.
Democracy rests on the idea of collective self-rule. We are not governed; we govern ourselves. This only works if we can make informed, reflective, and deliberate choices.
Jürgen Habermas called this the public sphere: a space where citizens engage in rational-critical debate to form a political will. Similarly, John Dewey saw democracy not just as voting, but as collective inquiry: a shared effort to identify and solve public problems. But inquiry is impossible without attention. We must notice what’s happening, follow issues over time, and stay with complexity long enough to respond intelligently. Without focused individuals, no reflective public can form.
But our capacity to focus is eroding. In a digital attention economy, our minds are fragmented. We’re reacting, not reflecting. We live in a 'burnout society' as Byung-Chul Han put it. We are no longer citizens of deliberation & action, but consumers of stimuli. The very conditions for democratic agency are slipping away.
Without focus, democratic discernment collapses:
We can’t tell what really matters amid constant noise.
We avoid hard questions that demand sustained thought.
We fail to hear others, reinforcing filter bubbles and polarization.
Democracy isn’t tidy. As Hannah Arendt reminded us, it’s built on plurality and disagreement. The questions that matter (climate justice, inequality) have no easy answers. But in a distracted culture, complexity is intolerable. Without focus, we rush to certainty, fall for populist simplifications, or tune out entirely.
When we don't take up the challenge to choose wisely, power doesn’t vanish, it relocates. It shifts from citizens to those who have leverage over our attention: platforms, influencers, propagandists. We risk sliding into what's referred to as post-democracy, i.e. when democratic rituals persist, but real power slips away from the public.
Your Responsibility to Focus
Reclaiming self-government begins with reclaiming focus. Attention is not just a personal, mental habit, it has political implications. To govern ourselves, we must be able to govern where our minds go.
This responsibility as citizens isn't heroic. It's a daily practice that doesn't need to be perfect.
It needs just enough intention to:
Know what’s worth your focus. Not everything is. Let your values, vision, goals decide.
Start focusing. Take one small, meaningful step. Action breaks the grip of avoidance.
Sustain your focus. Do the work before the work: clear distractions.
Recover your focus. You’ll drift. That’s okay. The key is to notice and return.
And your focus can be contagious. What you choose to care about changes what others can care about, too. René Girard’s mimetic theory reminds us: we don’t desire in isolation. We desire what others desire. In a distracted world, focused attention is not only core to personal productivity but an example others will follow.
Our Responsibility to Focus
So the responsibility to focus is never just individual.
If you teach, lead, organize, or even just share online, you help others direct their attention. Whether you mean to or not.
So do it with care:
Set the agenda. People can’t focus on what they can’t see. Surface what matters, even if it’s not trending.
Frame with care. The words we use shape what others notice. (Don’t think of an elephant.)
Use Touch–Turn–Talk. If you believe a discussion is getting sidetracked or intentionally hijacked, bring it back: touch on the point, turn it back gently, talk about the core issue and invite others in.
Ask better questions. The kind that make people stop, think, and stay a little longer.
Focus spreads. Why not direct it with intention?
So here’s a small act of resistance:
Choose one person.
Send them something that matters, not because it’s new, but because it’s worth their focus.
You never know what that ripple might change.