An ecological understanding allows us to identify 'things' - rain, cloud, river - at the same time that it reminds us that these identities are fluid. “I remember that not only is my mother an immigrant, but that there is something immigrant about the air I breathe, the water I drink, the carbon in my bones, and the thoughts in my mind. There is a kind of nothing that’s necessary for, at the end of the day, doing something.” In such times as these, having recourse to periods of and spaces for “doing nothing” is of utmost importance, because without them we have no way to think, reflect, heal, and sustain ourselves-individually or collectively.

On this level, the practice of doing nothing has several tools to offer us when it comes to resisting the attention economy.

I consider “doing nothing” both as a kind of deprogramming device and as sustenance for those feeling too disassembled to act meaningfully. In fact, I think that “doing nothing”-in the sense of refusing productivity and stopping to listen-entails an active process of listening that seeks out the effects of racial, environmental, and economic injustice and brings about real change. “I want to be clear that I’m not actually encouraging anyone to stop doing things completely. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy To stand apart is to look at the world (now) from the point of view of the world as it could be (the future), with all of the hope and sorrowful contemplation that this entails.”

Rather, it is a perfect image of this world when justice has been realized with and for everyone and everything that is already here. Unlike the libertarian blank slate that appeals to outer space, or even the communes that sought to break with historical time, this “other world” is not a rejection of the one we live in. It also means giving yourself the critical break that media cycles and narratives will not, allowing yourself to believe in another world while living in this one. It means not fleeing your enemy, but knowing your enemy, which turns out not to be the world, but the channels through which you encounter it day-to-day. “To stand apart is to take the view of the outsider without leaving, always oriented toward what it is that you would have left.

Jenny odell's how to do nothing