Human Attention Spans: Unpacking the 8-Second Myth

In recent years, many blame the increasing usage of social media for the decline of human attention spans. In a popularly cited statistic, magazines, newspapers, and other media outlets infamously cite that the average attention span declined to a mere 8 seconds. More so, this is often compared to a similar statistic surrounding goldfish, often cited as 9 seconds.

While social media platforms do promote short-form video content, encouraging smaller snippets of attention, they don’t erase attention spans altogether. In fact, the real issue may not be that attention spans are shrinking, but merely that they are selective.

The Microsoft Study’s Impact on the Myth of Human Attention Spans

The myth surrounding human attention spans began with a study conducted by Microsoft. In the Microsoft-led study, Canadian researchers surveyed 2,000 participants. Subsequently, they studied electrical brain activity (also known as electroencephalograms or EEGs) in 112 others.

Based on this sample size, the researchers found that the average human attention span dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. Furthermore, this attention span dilemma started around the year 2000, approximately when the mobile revolution began.

Human Attention Spans Reflect Selective Use

But here’s the kicker: not all scientists agree with the research. Additionally, the figure on shrinking human attention spans didn’t actually originate with Microsoft’s research. In their report, they actually cited that statistic from a website called The Statistic Brain. Beyond that, some doctors believe that the concept of an average attention span amounts to very little. More so, they suggest that the idea of paying attention to something depends on the task at hand.

"It's very much task-dependent. How much attention we apply to a task will vary depending on what the task demand is,”

— Dr Gemma Briggs, Psychology Lecturer at The Open University

As an example, people statistically pay full attention while driving for just shy of 21 minutes. As drivers near that 21-minute threshold, their vigilance declines. This is systemic of what’s known as the vigilance decrement. In short, as time prolongs, people demonstrate a declining ability to thoroughly concentrate on the task at hand.

Summary

So, the issue may not be that social media harms the human attention spans. Perhaps, it’s more of a question of choosing to delegate attention to that particular task.

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