Are You a Goldfish?
A study in 2003 showed that people would focus on a screen for about two and a half minutes before switching to another task.
The first smartphones were introduced in 2007. Instagram launched in 2010 and was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) in 2012. In that same year, that attention span measurement dropped to one minute and fifteen seconds.
Tiktok launched in China in 2016 and became very popular in the US about 2020. In 2025, that same measurement of attention span dropped to 47 seconds.
Certainly “social” media bears its share of the blame for falling attention spans, but they’re not the only culprit. The cultural insistence that faster is better has also driven speed over quality. And in certain areas, this makes sense. But in all aspects of life?
Moving fast on tasks makes us more productive, right?
I know I’ve said approximately eleventy billion times that the brain is not a computer, and I will probably continue saying it a skilliontyzillion times before I die.There are many, many, many things that the human brain is better at than computers.
However. One of the major exceptions where the computer is definitely better than a human brain is so-called multitasking.
There’s a networking group I go to over Zoom, and I’m mainly there to make connections and talk to people. There’s a learning component to it that sometimes isn’t relevant to me. When that’s the case, I’ll usually work on some other things during the meeting.
Nothing that requires a lot of attention, like a blog post or other writing project. So I’ve got Zoom open, and I might pop open LinkedIn or a calendar link from someone I want to connect with. I usually check my email during this time, or I might read an online article.
The computer can handle having all these windows open and different activities happening. The human brain is different. When you switch between cognitive tasks (things you have to think about), each time a little energy is drained from your brain.
And as you know if you’ve ever had a leak in your house while you were gone for a few days, even a small leak can end up being a bigger problem.
When I talk about multitasking, I’m not talking about wearing multiple “hats”. Entrepreneurs have a number of subject matter areas in their business: finance, customer service, operations, marketing, and sales, to name a few. You might have days where you have to deal with more than one of these topics.
I’m also not talking about things that don’t require a lot of brainpower for both tasks: walking and chewing gum, vacuuming and listening to an ebook, etc. If one task doesn’t require thought, you can easily pair it with one that does and “multitask” that way.
I’m talking about tasks that do require brainpower for both: texting and driving (seriously, if you do this, STOP IT), listening to someone speak while you’re reading email, etc. (When I’m in the Zoom I mentioned above, I’m not trying to listen to the presenter, so I’m not trying to multitask.)
Here’s what’s happening in your brain while you think you’re multitasking: your brain is switching very rapidly from one task to the other and back again. It feels like you’re multitasking, but you’re not. Not only are you dividing your attention in a way that guarantees both tasks will take longer than they would if you tackled them individually, you are draining your energy much faster than you would if you tackled them individually.
Let me say that again: Not only are you dividing your attention in a way that guarantees both tasks will take longer than they would if you tackled them individually, you are draining your energy much faster than you would if you tackled them individually.
So the loss of attention span is also contributing to why you’re exhausted at the end of the day (all the task-switching) as well as why you feel like you’re so busy yet not accomplishing anything. You’re less productive than you would be if you stayed longer on tasks.
You would also probably feel less stressed. When you switch between tasks, it takes a lot longer to actually complete the activities. So you end up at the end of the day without accomplishing what you had planned. You’ve got unfinished tasks waiting for you the next day.
Even worse, your brain HATES tasks it knows are unfinished. (Compare this to your computer, which really couldn’t care less since it can’t care at all.) That’s why it’s going to wake you up at 3 am or prevent you from going to sleep: it wants you to put closure on that thing.
Why performing arts (all art, really) can help you improve productivity
To be honest, there are lots of things that can help you with productivity, and I’m not talking about apps. You can find them in my book, but this week I’m thinking about the arts.
Partly because the 21st is the beginning of Shakespeare week, and also because Timothee Chalamet publicly said movies will probably survive, but he wouldn’t want to be in opera or ballet right now.
And I think a lot of people, especially business owners, think that Shakespeare, the opera, ballet, and probably the symphony, are these high art, fusty institutions that are too rarefied to be interesting. Not only that, but they don’t have time for them.
These kinds of performing arts are immersive experiences that you just don’t get sitting home in front of the screen, or even at the movie theater.
And maybe you think they’re fusty, but I’m Gen X and we grew up with Saturday morning cartoons that were all set to classical music, at least for Looney Tunes. In Shakespeare’s day, his plays were staged for the common people, and they’d bring their food and beverages and whatnot with them and get rowdy when they felt like it.
I like a Shakespeare play that’s set in a different time period – you can move around a lot of his plays to make them more modern if you like. His plays are meant to be performed, not just read silently by yourself, though you can certainly do that.
When I lived in San Diego, a Shakespeare teacher gave free classes at the library, where we would read aloud from annotated texts that explained what was going on (the teacher helped with this as well.)
I think I best understood Shakespeare from hearing others read their parts and following along in the book. The teacher planned the books to match what was being offered at the Old Globe theater, which was Hamlet when I did it. It made watching the play much more fun as well.
Ballet and opera are both telling stories through music. The artistry that goes into them, whether dancers or musicians (including singers), is often completely awe-inspiring as well. Who knew a human body could do THAT!
Most of the times I’ve seen operas, there’s usually a caption running along it that tells you what’s being sung, and the program will normally give you the story of what’s happening.
I first saw opera at the Washington National Opera in high school, where we got to see a dress rehearsal of Aida. That’s a love story about the doomed romance of an Ethiopian queen (Aida) enslaved in Egypt, and an Egyptian military captain.
When I lived in New Jersey and New York, the Metropolitan Opera would do performances in the park – you can see Shakespeare in the park as well. The operas weren’t usually staged like they would be indoors, but if you have a chance to do opera/symphony/Shakespeare in the park near you, go check it out. It’s pretty awesome.
Think ballet is fusty and boring? Bet you don’t know the story of Swan Lake. The woman who plays the white swan falls in love with the prince, but the black swan tricks him into loving her instead. So the white swan kills herself, usually by jumping off a high platform on the stage.
I also enjoy the sound of pointe shoes hitting the floor; it’s like ASMR for me.
These productions are longer than most movies, though they generally have at least one intermission. But watching and immersing yourself in them takes up a different part of your brain than work does, so they can actually be a good way for your brain to recharge.
What you can do to expand your attention span
Stop telling yourself that you’re stuck with a short attention span, even if you’re neurodivergent. It’s not true, if you’re willing to change it. If you want to have a short attention span, that’s your decision, but you will also never be as effective as you could be in your business. Thinking seriously about decisions and being able to think critically both require the ability to focus for a bit longer than 47 seconds.
I talk about ways to expand your attention span also in my book, and here are a few to start with.
Try to stop or at least decrease your reliance on listicles and articles that take less than a minute or two to read.
If you want to get back to reading books (which I highly recommend!), pick ones in a genre that you enjoy. Fiction is also good for your brain; I personally find a diet of only self-help and business books drier than the Sahara.
Try taking in some art once in a while on a leisurely visit. Schedule it on your calendar, maybe on a weekend. You can look to see what’s going on in your area.
If you’re in Long Beach and you’re interested in the symphony, don’t delay in contacting me! I’m a member of the volunteer board that supports our symphony and I can hook you up with tickets too.
Recap (tl;dr):
Having the attention span of a goldfish does not help you be more productive. Expand your attention span and enjoy immersive experiences as you do so. You might find you’re more of an opera/ballet/symphony fan than you think!
Want some other suggestions on expanding your attention and focus ability? Let’s talk; click here to set up a time.
Photo by shuvrodeep dutta on Unsplash.