32 Quotes by Jenny Odell

I argue for a view of the self and of identity that is the opposite of the personal brand: an unstable, shapeshifting thing determined by interactions with others and with different kinds of places.

Solitude, observation, and simple conviviality should be recognized not only as ends in and of themselves, but inalienable rights belonging to anyone lucky enough to be alive.

I’ve also learned that patterns of attention—what we choose to notice and what we do not—are how we render reality for ourselves, and thus have a direct bearing on what we feel is possible at any given time.

Given that all of the issues that face us demand and understanding of complexity, interrelationship, and nuance, the ability to seek and understand context is nothing less than a collective survival skill.

One might say the parks and libraries of the self are always about to be turned into condos.

Simple awareness is the seed of responsibility.

One thing I have learned about attention is that certain forms of it are contagious. When you spend enough time with someone who pays close attention to something, you inevitably start to pay attention to some of the same things. I've also learned that patterns of attention - what we choose to notice and what we do not - are how we renderreality for ourselves, and thus have a direct bearing on what we feel is possible at any given time.

Through attention and curiosity, we can suspend our tendency toward instrumental understanding – seeing things or people one-dimensionally as the products of their functions – and instead sit with the unfathomable fact of their existence, which opens up toward us but can never be fully grasped or known.

To capitalist logic, which thrives on myopia and dissatisfaction, there may indeed be something dangerous about something as pedestrian as doing nothing: escaping laterally toward each other, we might just find that everything we wanted is already here.