Attention Span Is Not Lowering

Loads of people say our attention span is getting worse

Actually?

Print book sales are up Streaming platforms doing better Cinema attendance - down

Audiobooks up YouTube grows

fragmented consumption and shorter attention cycles for most digital entertainment

Attention span is not the same as our ability to maintain attention

Kahneman’s Capacity Theory of Attention proposes that capacity for attention isn’t static, but it is a function of the reward characteristics of the task, arousal level, motivation and other biological determinants

Anything can be a distraction - Often it’s ‘Pseudowork’ that we think are important. This is worse than the obvious slacking (Guitar, Facebook etc) where it’s obvious we’re not working