In 2004, psychologist Gloria Mark found that the average time study participants spent focused on a screen was around two-and-half minutes. It's now 47 seconds.
Our attention spans appear to be in decline, but what role is technology playing in this phenomenon?
A stock image shows a woman using a smartphone. Gloria Mark's research has shown that people spend around 47 seconds, on average, focusing on any given screen before their attention wanders elsewhere.Mark started measuring attention spans back in 2004, using an objective and empirical method to track how long people are focused on any given screen before they look away.
Mark said she has found a correlation between the frequency of attention switching and stress. In studies, the psychologist has tracked people's heart rates in the workplace to monitor their stress levels. Mark said there are a number of factors that may be playing a role in our increasing distractibility, and our psychology is just as important a factor as technology.
An individual's personality also plays a role. Mark said some individuals are better at self-regulating than others. Those that are not so good tend to score higher on psychological measures of impulsivity and low in conscientiousness. People who score high in neuroticism also tend to have shorter attention spans, according to Mark.
A stock image shows a man using a laptop. The broader media environment is reinforcing shorter attention spans, according to research.Advertisements have also declined in length. Mark said 60-second ads used to be quite common, now it is not unusual to see commercials that last six seconds. When most people think of interruptions, they think only of external distractors—notifications, ads, text chimes, phone calls, people coming into their office, among others. But Mark's research shows that people are just as likely to self-interrupt as to be interrupted by something external.
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