Mecca Castillo

A Microsoft survey suggested that the influx of technology has negatively impacted our attention span, reducing it to 8 seconds. From social media and google to film and video, we are rapidly accessing more information than before the technological era. This decrease in attention can cause stress, memory lapses, and difficulty focusing in the classroom.

Long lectures and intensive learning for those used to distractions and breaking often can be more difficult. Writer Jennifer Oaten at Santa Maria College says, “If students are only used to receiving information in small pieces, they may have trouble understanding complex concepts or critical thinking.”

According to attention expert Dr. Gloria Marks research, since the technological era in 2000, the average time spent on 1 screen was 2.5 minutes and has shrunk to 47 seconds in the past 6 years. Several sources of research suggest why this decrease is happening. 

Today, we have the ability to access information all the time wherever we are using our devices. Although convenient, since we are having to multitask and skim through new content and advertisements every day “we have become accustomed to small, bite-size pieces of information,” states Oaten. TikTok is a prime example of  short snippets of content and having dual screens to watch two videos at once. But it isn’t just TikTok. Film shots have become shorter, down to 4 seconds long on average and commercials are much shorter, says Mark. Overall, both the producers of media and the consumers are having more information and content exposed to them in a shorter period of time. 

According to another study by researchers Melina R. Uncapher and Anthony D. Wagner, a short attention span is coincided with an increase in multi-tasking and memory lapses. When you reorient these memory lapses could become more pronounced and Uncapher and Wagner warn that an increase in multi-tasking and short attention spans will lead to memory deterioration down the line.

Mark writes about several other negatives of attention span. One of the most impactful is the increase in anxiety and stress. Flipping through information constantly everyday exhausts the brain and may inhibit its other abilities. Mark says in an interview, “every time you switch your attention, you have to reorient to that new activity, that new thing you’re paying attention to, and it takes a little bit of time.”

How to Improve Attention Span 

Several authors from the Frontier of Human Neurosciences provide research on the connection of meditation on the attention span. Different types and durations of mediations improve executive function, orienting, and visual attention. Like most things, it depends on each person.

An article published at George Washington University suggests many ways to improve attention span to minimize long term effects. Reading more often trains the mind to attend for longer and focus on one thing at a time. “Develop a routine of 20 to 30 minutes of reading during your lunch break, before work or before bed.”

Practicing attentive listening requires you to remove visual distractions and only listening to audio like a podcast or music. GWU also suggests exercise also improves cognitive control.