There’s a good chance you won’t read this story uninterrupted to the end.
You might find it interesting, (dare I saw well-written?) and relevant to your life, but before you get to the final paragraph, something else will likely demand your attention—a text, an email, an overwhelming itch to watch a TikTok—and the urge to shift your focus will be irresistible.
You’re hardly alone. We’re all becoming the human equivalent of the talking dog from Pixar’s Up, easily distracted and bouncing from one tech obsession to the next.
Screens give our brains a hit of dopamine, which is why we keep coming back to things like X/Twitter, TikTok, and TV. And the craving we have for that dopamine is driving our brains to consume smaller doses before seeking out another hit, say researchers.
In 2003, Gloria Mark, an attention researcher at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, began studying people’s attention span, noting how long it took for them to shift attention. Back then, she says, the average was 2.5 minutes. Between 2016 and 2019, we were in the neighborhood of 47 seconds.
The drop was gradual, but steady.
“A byproduct of accessing information from our devices is that our attention spans have shortened,” writes Mark. “It’s fair to say that we experience more distractions now in the digital age than ever before in history. . . . We found through computer logging that people average checking email 77 times a day, and Facebook 21 times a day—and this is just during the workday. This does not even consider distractions due to other social media, news, e-commerce sites (you can’t stop yourself from checking the Prime Day sales), texts, apps, Slack, and so much more.”
The lack of attention span has become such a problem that Adderall, the prescription medication used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, has been in short supply for much of this year, as more and more people are diagnosed with ADHD. Between 2020 and 2021, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentages of females ages 15 to 44 and males ages 25 to 44 who were prescribed Adderall or similar drugs, increased by more than 10%.
It’s not a problem that people are failing to notice in themselves, either. A recent study in the U.K. found roughly half of adults believed their attention spans are getting shorter. They don’t realize just how bad it is, though. For example, the average adult in that study felt they checked their phone roughly 25 times a day. Studies suggest the actual number is closer to 80.
It seems, sometimes, that every aspect of our lives these days is tailored to fit into those short bursts of attention. News stories are shorter. Movies are much more fast-paced than they used to be, with rapid cuts meant to keep you invested. And YouTube is pushing creators toward its Shorts product. People are even watching full movies in short clips on TikTok.
Ironically, TikTok is guiding some creators to begin making longer videos as we move into 2024. The company reportedly invited dozens of its stars to its offices in October, emphasizing the chance to make more money and get their messages out. TikTok users are now spending half their time on the app watching content that’s longer than a minute, reports The Information. And users who post one-minute-plus videos have a follower growth rate that’s five times higher than those who just post quick cuts.
So how do we solve the problem of short attention spans? It’s the answer you’d expect. A key way to regain focus is to remove the temptation to be distracted. Turn off your phone or leave it in another room, where you won’t hear a chime or buzz when you have a project that demands your attention. And write your goals down, perhaps on a Post-It note. This not only reinforces your mind and focuses it, you’ll get that sweet dopamine dose when you scratch an item off the list. And, of course, get adequate rest and take breaks, so your brain doesn’t get overloaded.
“Just like how we can’t lift weights for an extended period without getting physically exhausted, we can’t just focus our minds for an extended period on hard tasks without getting mentally exhausted,” writes Mark.