Bambi Eloriaga-Amago
Gadgets are making people turn out worse than goldfish, in terms of shortness of attention span that is. A 2015 study conducted by Microsoft has shown that the average attention span of a human has now dropped to eight seconds, or a full second lower than that of a goldfish. In contrast, back in 2000, a person’s average attention span was at 12 seconds.
The study involved conducting a survey of 2,000 Canadian respondents and monitoring the brain activity of 112 other people. It further suggested that multi-screeners—people who, for example, watch television while browsing through their smartphones—have difficulties focusing on matters in the non-digital world.
“Canadians with more digital lifestyles struggle to focus in environments where prolonged attention is needed,” the study stated.
Results also yielded statistics that point to several “addiction-like” behavior. A Yahoo News article listed down the numbers: “44 percent of respondents claimed they had to concentrate really hard to stay focused on tasks, 37 percent said they were unable to make the best use of their time (often leading to working late in the evenings and on weekends), 77 percent of respondents admitted to reaching for their phones when they feel bored, and 79 percent reported using portable devices even when watching TV.”
Bruce Morton, a researcher from the University of Western Ontario’s Brain and Mind Institute, reassured people not to get too alarmed. In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, he explained that it is merely a case of the brain becoming hungrier the more we feed it.
Morton further explained that the function of attention hasn’t changed. Gadget-use has just resulted in attention being allocated differently. “Digital technologies dovetail seamlessly into the information processing abilities of our brain.”
