Eight seconds. That’s it.
The average attention span of a human is eight seconds and if I don’t woo your mind right now you might as well move away from this page. So if you are still reading this, congratulations, as you have given an exemplary exhibition of a profuse attention span. You are already better than most people in the world.
Attention span is, as I perceive, the longevity — predominantly, though not exclusively — in a task of an untrained conscious mind before obstructed by distraction. In other words, it’s the amount of time you devote to something before you are interrupted by some media of noise or urge. It is a sensation, which holds grip of a thought and forms subsequent conclusive chain without losing the edge and run in real-time. At least, this is what the adage tells us about the folk meaning of attention span. But let’s give this definition a second thought. In our life, we perform tasks to serve an end purpose in life and our brain, consciously or not, is drawing a patterned trail that is leading to our submissive goal. This chain reaction that our mind is drawing, forces a dilemma that — in long-term do we all possess a vast span of attention? And if so, the sinking average human attention is not appalling?
The answer is No. Even though, we do keep our aim on our eccentric singular dream, we don’t usually have the ultimate authority of paving its course. A medical pass-out may turn out to be a thriving and affluent marketer or an MBA pass out can turn to be an effective therapist. This trail is unexpected and indecisive. Another reason is that a task to be included into a span demands singleness of purpose. I don’t denunciate any of the above examples but their reformed goals made it inapt. That is why we can’t consider the long-term attention span since we don’t have entire control over its progress. Thus, let us refrain to the shorter time-set for now.
Now moving to reason some causes that are leading to the deteriorating attention span. Since 2000, with the launch of the first iPhone and apps like Facebook and Instagram making their way into our lives, human have lost approximately 33% of their attention span. According to a research by Tecmark, an individual checks their phone 221 times in a day, or almost 1500 times in a week, excluding the time they’re asleep. The variability that we will find something in our phones, releases dopamine in our brains, which is a neurophormone of pleasure and anticipation of reward. When the brain extracts enormous dopamine, it becomes addiction. This is exactly how drugs work. This recent urge to keep checking phones or going back to social media have reduced our functionality, not because of any neural damage, but because people are naturally eager to fill their minds with whatever needs low investment of psychic energy and is continuous and readily available, as long as it distracts their attention from turning inwards and dwelling on the negative feelings.
This is not an evil condemnation of smartphones so my stance doesn’t limit to it. The lacking longevity of attention can also be caused by psychological sickness or mental distress. Studies also show that people tend to lose focus more often when they are anxious or nervous. They even lose control of their body parts which, as a result, shiver out of will. A person also loses their connectivity with a task when it is of their disinterest or when they don’t aspire sincerity. All these problems have one thing in common. Disconnection between your mind and yourself.
Most folks suggest that to overcome the declining span of attention, a person should refrain from using smartphones and get into the habit of regular reading. In this age of distractions, it is a grim challenge to read a full-length book at a stretch, or rather read a book at all. When was the last time you finished a book without detaching from it with a month long break? This is because those folks didn’t tell why you had to read. Reading binds your thought process and curtails unwanted buffoonery. It provides a linearity to your ideas and a greater control over what your brain has to perform. This, obviously, is a training methodology. It becomes more effective over time through incorporating it into a perpetual habit. That being said, there should not be any compulsion and that you don’t have to read it because you HAVE to but because you WANT to.
The merits of reading, can be reaped from various other sources. Watching thought-provoking documentaries or listening informative podcasts or powering through morning newspaper or checking out one of your friend’s essay, all these are also equally beneficial. Find your interest and motivation, and your disengagement will almost be impossible!
“Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.” Sigmund Freud
Teaching yourself is also remarked to help in providing longer attention spans. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi indicated in his flagship novel “Flow”, to something he called, an optimal experience. He introduced the phenomenon and called it Flow — a state of creativity and total involvement. To teach yourself, exhilarate similar feelings of transcendence. It is a dynamic feature that leads to growth and discovery. One cannot enjoy doing the same thing for long, and thus gets bored and frustrated. Thus, there is a need to stretch our skills and to discover new opportunities. You can start by setting an overall goal and then set as many realistic sub goals as possible. Keep concentrating on what you are learning and eliminate distractions. Then find ways to measure your progress and keep raising challenges if the activity becomes boring.
A good example of this can be when you are learning a new language or trying hands on a new instrument or barely learning new facts or concepts. You set an overall goal, say to learn guitar, followed by many sub goals like learning basic chords, strumming, various progressions, fingerstyles, maybe a song then, and then another and another and so on. A further goal can be to develop an ingenious playing style or develop a more effective way to learn new songs. You can measure your progress by getting a feedback from others or compare how fast you were able to learn, or how many songs you mastered and how many new ideas you entertained on the way.
It is important to understand, that the purpose of this is not to achieve anything. It is necessary to evoke attention towards the experience than the accomplishments. Involvement and commitment is all what one should exert upon.
Lastly, I would like to institute the idea of silence. It is the last cornerstone to expand your attention span and become a much better person. Sitting in silence is the only way our brain can process the information that we keep feeding into it. The solitude gives time to your brain to think about more important things and arrange them while also removing the less important ones. Silence is much expensive than anything in this world and the rarest too. Gaining it is not simple and maintaining it is impossible. Address every last noise you can confront and try to overcome it. Don’t forget, you don’t have to be in a meditative form but a mindful one. You should have complete control over what you hear and what you force your brain to avoid from hearing. Eliminate distractions by facing them and then teaching your brain how to overcome them. Your thoughts should be challenged and then provided a linearity. Hence, instigating connection of your mind and yourself.
Recognizing the shriveling human will, habits will be transformed only as a cooperative rather than a ruling role. The problem will be resolved when this individual purpose merges with universal purpose… OH LOOK, A SQUIRREL!
