Attention span is the length of time during which a person can concentrate on a specific task or activity
Recent studies on this topic has shown that an individual’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter. Researchers have put forth many factors as the cause for decrease in attention span. Today we are surrounded by a lot of media and entertainment elements like Mobile Phones, Internet and Television that distracts us easily.
How many times have you read an entire page without looking for an incoming SMS or sending SMS to your friend?, How many times have you watched an entire movie without switching to other channels?. If you have done so, give yourself a hug or a pat on the back. So that far is our attention span.
Above all internet is found to be the main source of distraction, every internet user has an email id, facebook page, twitter account and youtube channel, where they constantly connect and interact with friends from all parts of the world. An average internet user tend to switch tabs constantly to check email or for an update on facebook page.
With the advent of smartphones, sending MMS, video chat and internet access has become the trend of this generation. This habit – sometimes an addiction has entered classrooms where students constantly tap the keypad of their phones under the desk. So there the attention span to what the the teacher says will be only few seconds.
The most interesting part is, studies have shown that classrooms based on multimedia, suffers the same problem. Around 20% of the viewers tend to abandon viewing a video within first 20 seconds of the viewing time, irrespective of its content and quality. If you really want to know what your attention span is, you can check it by taking some tests here Attention Span Test.