Did you get it?
The ability to focus attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one’s goals. This is why these statistics are quite disturbing:
- The average attention span in 2000: 12 seconds
- The average attention span in 2013: 8 seconds
- The average attention span of a gold fish: 9 seconds
Against a backdrop of relentless growth
It’s no surprise that attention spans (the amount of concentrated time on a task without becoming distracted) have been decreasing over the past decade with the increase in external stimulation. Do you think that our online behavior plays a major role here?
The stats indicate a huge rise in Internet usage. According to the Internet Systems Consortium, 2014, 1,010,251,829 hosts were advertised in the Domain Name System in January 2014. The number of Internet users only exceeded one billion late in 2005 and in early 2015, we’re approaching three billion users. And therefore even shorter attention spans?
The Internet continues to evolve but its fundamental nature has remained constant.
Apparently, it’s mankind that’s changing.
P.S. Good news: If you’re still with us, it means you’re waaay better than a gold fish. How long can you focus on a task without getting distracted? Take a test here. D.S.
