A goldfish has a longer attention span (focus) than humans do today…
- In 1980 the average adult attention span was 20 minutes (a figure I heard in a video but could not verify with a 2nd source).
- In 1998 the average adult attention span was 12 minutes.
- According to a study in July of 2016: the average attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds,
- from the same study, 2015 attention span was down to 8.25 seconds.
- This same study states that the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds.
I realize that at this point, only the goldfish are still reading… so here’s a chart…
This same study also quoted these statistics about web browsing:
- 17% of page views last LESS THAN 4 seconds
- 4% of page views last MORE THAN 10 minutes
- Amount of words read on web pages with 111 words or less: 49%
- Amount of words read on an average web page (593 words): 28% (Users spend only 4.4 seconds more for each added 100 words).
Sobering
These are sobering statistics.
As an advertiser or blog author these stats must play a role in how you advertise, write, and structure your work. Notice I kept the title of this post really short and used bulleted lists and short sentences.
The Human Factor
As a human being these stats MUST tell you to UNPLUG. To get any REAL, worthwhile work done, you MUST ISOLATE yourself. It takes practice. Young people can’t study without the TV on and their phone in their hand.
Quality
This drop in attention span, in my opinion, correlates to a drop in quality.
- Quality of life,
- quality of work,
- quality of creativity,
- quality of relationships,
- quality of education,
- and the list goes on and on.
Until next time,
Fred
[addtoany]