Unclaimed
Jenny Odell
History & Commentary
Jenny Odell is an American artist, writer and educator whose nonfiction examines attention, capitalist ideas of productivity, and possibilities for political and environmental engagement.
Biography
Jenny Odell is an American multidisciplinary artist, writer and educator based in Oakland, California. Born in 1986, she taught Internet art and digital/physical design at Stanford University from 2013 to 2021. She is the author of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy (2019), a New York Times bestseller.
In that book, Odell treats attention as a valuable resource strained by demands for constant productivity. She argues that changing how people pay attention can open possibilities for political action, a reconsideration of humanity’s relationship with the environment, and different understandings of happiness and progress. Her argument challenges capitalist definitions of efficiency without simply rejecting technology or advocating a return to nature.
Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Excerpt, formatting adapted
Books by Jenny Odell
How to Do Nothing
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy argues that resisting demands for constant productivity can help people reclaim their attention. It explores how different ways of paying attention can support political action, reconsider humanity’s environmental role, and reshape ideas of happiness and progress.