In a distracted age, focus is power. And having an inability to focus is giving away power," says Chris Hayes. His new book “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource” is out now.

I was looking for self-help advice in Chris Hayes’ “The Sirens' Call,” an examination of the system widely monopolizing our time and eroding our focus: the attention economy. In recent years, my attention has felt continually besieged by a barrage of information,

Whether we’re doomscrolling the latest news or scanning our favorite celebrity accounts to concoct parasocial relationships, Hayes, who studied philosophy at Brown University, argues we are increasingly being compelled to pay attention to things that aren’t good for us,

Who cares if people have a negative reaction, so long as they have some reaction?” Hayes talked with his book about Semafor on Friday, and this is an edited version of the conversation. : When did you first realize that something had gone badly wrong in the battle for our attention?