When did my attention span become so short?

When did my attention span become so short? This week, I was writing some emails, and the amount of times I picked up my phone was insane. I would be in the middle of typing a sentence, and would randomly stop to go on Instagram or another attention sucker for no reason.

Over the past year or so, I have noticed that my attention span has decreased in length. It began with absentmindedly going on my phone while doing my homework. Then it became not being able to read 5 pages of a book without watching an Instagram reel or Youtube video. Without getting distracted, I used to study and read for hours, but I’ve lost my mental strength. Even while I’m writing this article, I keep clicking on the other tabs I have open just to see what’s there. The tab name tells me what’s there, and yet, I’m still clicking for no reason.

My decreasing attention span has encouraged me to do research on the subject. An episode of the Speaking of Psychology podcast which featured psychologist Dr. Gloria Mark was really enlightening. I found a lot of great notes and observations to help explain and support the idea that attention spans are in fact getting shorter.

The Facts

Dr. Mark first highlights two different types of attention. The first type is focused attention which is typically experienced between late morning and mid to late afternoon. Have you ever had those bursts of energy or focus throughout the day where you get so much stuff done? That’s focused attention. On the other end, there is rote activity. This includes activities like reading the news and going online, which don’t require much direct attention. Unlike focused attention activities, rote activities are done mindlessly.

The portion of the episode that I found really interesting was when she shared the details of her research on declining attention spans. In 2004, she and her team found that the attention span of a person on a screen was 2.5 minutes long on average. By 2012, this average decreased to 75 seconds, and in the past 7-8 years it has decreased to 47 seconds on average. In about twenty years, our attention spans on a screen have decreased to roughly a third of what they once were.

Another thing she notes is that the faster one’s attention switches(multi-tasking), our blood pressure rises signaling an increase in stress. Our body signals that multi-tasking isn’t efficient and yet we ignore these signs. A switch cost is associated with switching from activity to activity. Once you switch to a new activity, you need to adjust to the new task which takes time. This slows you down as opposed to just focusing on a single activity at a time. Imagine you’re reading a book while simultaneously watching a movie. As your eyes flicker back and forth between the two activities, you have to remember what was happening in the paragraph or the scene. You really aren’t engaging fully in either activity because you’re already moving on to the next one.

Relieving Short Attention Spans

To help relieve a short attention span, Dr. Mark suggests that people should find natural stopping points. Instead of using the pomodoro method or other scheduled breaks, we all must self regulate based on our energy levels. I personally have tried the pomodoro method, and it always felt unnatural. Sometimes I would work into the break period or want to take a break before the work period had ended. The pomodoro method may work for some, but by scheduling our breaks we’re not allowing ourselves to adjust to our current energy levels.

Additionally, if we want our attention spans to be longer on a daily basis, we must have a full tank of resources. For kids, that’s going outside or reading books. For adults, it’s about getting a good night’s rest. Dr. Mark explains how when we don’t get the amount of sleep we need, we accumulate sleep debt which contributes to a short attention span.

It seems so simple when someone tells you to get more sleep, but we all know it isn’t. For now, I recommend pushing up your bedtime by 10-15 minutes each night to eventually normalize finishing your day earlier and sleeping more. It’s like when your parents would make you start sleeping earlier and earlier as the school year got closer. Changing a sleep schedule takes time.

Without enough resources, like sleep, we can only do light activities(social media, watching videos, random searching) which makes it harder to continue our attention on activities that require more mental energy.

An Interesting Parallel

One really interesting parallel that she found was that TV film shot lengths are even shorter than they once were. Now they are only about four seconds long. It makes you wonder if film shot lengths have shortened because attention spans have shortened, if it’s the other way around, or if there’s no correlation at all. I’ve seen this a lot especially in newer TV shows and movies. It often feels like the movie or tv episode has a lot of breaks in the footage as opposed to long shots.

Taking Back Control

We all need to take back control of our attention spans. I find it really annoying that I can’t focus on a single activity for an extended period of time. We’d all do ourselves some good, if we actively tried to work on increasing or at least maintaining the length of our current attention spans. Imagine all the time you could save from decreasing the number of times you mindlessly scroll on Tiktok or Instagram as opposed to finishing your original activity without distractions.

The one task I have for you all this next week is to complete an activity without a single distraction. This means that you can’t mindlessly go on social media, open a new tab in your browser, or some other source of attention. Start and end the activity without looking at anything else. It can be a lot harder than you might think. Good luck.

Thank you all for reading this article. I appreciate you taking the time to read something I wrote. Make sure to subscribe to be notified of new posts. Stay sharp 😉