Researcher Gloria Mark, who studies human attention at the University of California, Irvine, found in 2004 that the average person focused their attention on a single screen for about two and half minutes. By 2016, that length of time had dropped to 47 seconds, a reduction of roughly 69%.
In other words, we’re all chasing shiny objects these days. And it’s a trend that’s not likely to reverse itself. It could, in fact, get even worse.
We are, after all, under assault from distractions. The lure of dopamine-feeding social media threads calls to us constantly. Email, Slack and Discord ping right as we get into a groove. TV news and shows, as well as films, feature quickly changing shots, further sapping our ability to focus. AI, meanwhile, is impacting our ability to think critically Kaya 959