Chris Hayes, the Emmy Award-winning TV host on MSNBC and New York Times bestselling author, returned to St. Joseph’s University, New York (SJNY) on Feb. 10 for the Brooklyn Voices series. Hayes discussed his new book, “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource.”
Jia Tolentino, a staff writer at The New Yorker, led the hour-long conversation with Hayes inside Tuohy Hall’s auditorium on the SJNY Brooklyn Campus. Hayes also fielded questions from the audience and signed books after his discussion.
The Brooklyn Voices series is SJNY’s long-running collaboration with Greenlight Bookstore, which provides local writers, artists and intellectuals a forum to discuss and present their works to the local population as well as SJNY patrons and students.
“The Siren’s Call” is described as “wide-angle reckoning” with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the fabric of our society.
According to Hayes, attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us by, and from which we are increasingly alienated.
In addition to his political commentary and anchor role on MSNBC, Hayes also hosts “Why Is This Happening,” a weekly podcast. The discussion between Hayes and Tolentino on stage at SJNY is set to be released on the podcast.
In his remarks, Hayes offered his insights on the current state of affairs with the onslaught of information driven by use of smartphones, and the continual struggle to focus one’s attention.
Whether it is a video of carpet cleaning or someone making a sandwich (both of which Hayes said he finds soothing) or something else entirely different, the end goal of “surveillance capitalism” is simply to maximize attention. According to Hayes, the algorithm—which he said most of us speak about in terms of being some kind of “external force”— has no artistic vision.
According to Hayes, finding ways to dig deeper and sustain your attention on what you find most important is one of the most important things we can do.
“Focus is power,” said Hayes.
Next Up: Matthew Morris, Colum McCann
The Brooklyn Voices series continues at SJNY with a special daytime event on Feb. 19 when Matthew R. Morris, an educator, anti-racism advocate and Toronto-based writer, visits the Brooklyn Campus. Morris is the author of “Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity and Belonging.” He will speak in Tuohy Hall’s auditorium on Wednesday beginning at 12:40 p.m. The event is open to SJNY students, faculty, staff and the general public.
On March 26, author Colum McCann will speak at SJNY about his new novel, “Twist.”
