Book Review: How to Do Nothing — Reclaiming Our Attention to Reclaim Our Communities

We live in a world where everyone wants our attention, and almost nobody wants us to sit quietly on the front porch.

Social media platforms want us scrolling. Employers want us producing. Advertisers want us buying. Our phones buzz, our calendars fill, and our minds are constantly pulled toward something other than the people and places immediately around us.

Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy offers a thoughtful and sometimes challenging response to this modern condition. Her central argument is not that we should literally do nothing. Rather, she invites us to reconsider what deserves our attention and whether the constant demand to be productive is keeping us from experiencing the richness of everyday life.

For anyone interested in building stronger neighborhoods and communities, this is a particularly relevant book.

The Problem Isn't Just Technology. It's Attention.

Odell argues that our attention has become a commodity. Technology companies compete to capture it, monetize it, and keep us engaged as long as possible.

The consequences go beyond wasted time.

When our attention is constantly directed toward distant events, online arguments, and digital entertainment, we become less aware of the physical world around us. We may know what a stranger posted on social media yesterday but have no idea what is happening with the family next door.

That is a remarkable contradiction.

We have never been more connected technologically, yet many Americans struggle to develop meaningful relationships with the people who live closest to them.

Odell encourages readers to redirect attention toward their immediate surroundings, including local ecosystems, public spaces, and the people who share those spaces.

Her reflections on observing birds, landscapes, and ordinary environments offer a reminder that noticing is itself a meaningful activity.

Attention Is the Beginning of Neighboring

One of the principles I emphasize in my work with the Engaged Neighbor Program is See and Be Seen.

Before we can develop relationships with our neighbors, we must notice them. We need to recognize faces, learn routines, make eye contact, and become familiar with the people who share our streets and neighborhoods.

These small acts of attention create the foundation for relationships.

But attention requires something increasingly difficult: being present.

Consider two people walking through the same neighborhood. One is staring at a phone, listening to a podcast, and mentally preparing for the next appointment. The other is observing the surroundings, noticing who is outside, and stopping occasionally to exchange greetings.

Both have traveled the same sidewalk. Only one has meaningfully participated in the neighborhood.

Odell's book helps explain why that difference matters.

The Value of Doing Something That Doesn't Produce Anything

Our culture often measures activities according to their productivity.

Was the meeting useful? Did the event accomplish something? Was the afternoon efficient?

But some of the most important moments in community life cannot be measured that way.

A conversation across the fence might not accomplish anything immediately. Sitting on the porch with a neighbor may not produce a measurable result. Attending a neighborhood gathering might not advance a professional goal.

Yet these activities build familiarity, trust, and belonging.

In my experience, the strongest neighborhoods are often built through repeated interactions that appear insignificant when viewed individually.

Odell's argument helps us recognize that relationships do not have to justify themselves through productivity.

Sometimes the most important thing we can do is simply be available.

Where the Book Falls Short

I give How to Do Nothing four stars rather than five because Odell's writing occasionally becomes more philosophical and abstract than practical.

Her discussions of art, politics, ecology, and resistance are intellectually stimulating, but readers looking for a straightforward plan to reduce screen time or strengthen relationships may find portions of the book difficult to apply.

I also would have appreciated more attention to the practical challenges faced by people whose work, family responsibilities, or economic circumstances leave them with limited control over their time.

Nevertheless, the book's central message is compelling.

The Neighboring Connection

Missouri Good Neighbor Week encourages people to perform and report acts of neighboring, but the deeper purpose is to encourage a way of life in which we intentionally notice and care for the people around us.

That begins with attention.

We cannot respond to needs we never notice. We cannot learn the names of neighbors we never acknowledge. We cannot create belonging if we are perpetually distracted from the places where we live.

Perhaps one of the most countercultural things we can do today is put down the phone, step outside, and pay attention to our neighborhood.

Not because we have nothing else to do.

But because the people around us are worth noticing.

My takeaway: How to Do Nothing is a valuable reminder that attention is not merely a personal resource. It is also a gift we offer other people. Stronger communities begin when we choose to direct more of that gift toward the people and places closest to home.

Four stars. Recommended for readers interested in social connection, intentional living, technology, and the importance of place.

WRITTEN BY

David L. Burton

For more information, visit the Engaged Neighbor website. Take our pledge and become part of a movement! Or subscribe to our newsletter. Access some of the research documents written by David Burton, the author of this blog. Or better yet, purchase one of his books off Amazon. Contact David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.