May I have your attention.
Seriously. Getting and keeping another person’s attention is
becoming increasingly more difficult.
Statistics show average attention span today is only eight
seconds, a decline from 12 seconds in 2000. Eight seconds for a human is
actually less than the attention span of a goldfish (nine seconds).
Of course, a goldfish has much less to engage its attention
than a human. Still…
Some authorities are more generous with the figures,
contending average attention span has dropped from 12 minutes to five. Minutes,
not seconds. In either case, it’s not much as time goes.
Scientists have pointed the finger of blame at television
and other technological distractions of our age. Look around you and note the
focus of your peers on their smart phones and other devices providing a pathway
to the Internet and all its distractions—aural, visual and tactile. Few of us
are oblivious to these wonderful yet detrimental aspects of our society.
Fewer people are reading today and reading scores are on a
steady decline. We’ve all heard too many of those who do read complaining of
books being too long, too complicated or lacking in enough action. Where’s the
challenge if everything is easy?
Some may want to pooh-pooh the idea, citing the awesome benefits
offered by this access to so much information. The problem is, how much can an
ordinary person digest without sacrificing concentration and the ability to
absorb knowledge?
Our ancestors didn’t have the distractions of constantly
ringing phones, blaring radios, TVs with streaming “news” everywhere you go,
not to mention alarm clocks that wake one up with music, appliances and power
tools adding to the din, and motor vehicles of all types rocketing around the
neighborhood.
I’m not being a Luddite and advocating throwing out the baby
with the bathwater. But wouldn’t it be nice every once in a while to shut off
the technology and look—really look—at the person next to you and give him or
her more than eight seconds of your time?
Seriously?
