Last year I shared the thought that attention spans aren’t really getting shorter, but users are simply more picky about where to invest their time. If you know anyone that has ever “binged” a show on Netflix, you know this to be true. That said, that post was simply a quote with some anecdotes and not backed by science.
In a recent episode of his podcast, Adam Grant shared some thoughts on the ability for us to concentrate, and he cited a 2023 study which shows that our ability to concentrate is improving. The study covered the period between 1990 and 2021 and showed that children’s concentration levels have stayed the same, while they’ve increased for adults.
As Adam shared on the podcast:
“I mean, it’s so interesting, right, that this is not an ability issue. I think it’s a motivation issue. And it’s a shiny object problem in some ways that, of course, we’re distracted when there are lots of distractions in our environment. But we’re fully capable of focusing on something that piques our interest.”
In their downtime, people are finding ways to entertain themselves in rapid fashion (often using apps like Instagram and Tiktok to do it), but our ability to concentrate remains as strong as ever.
In a way, this is a light version of the world being far better than you think. It’s easy to say how iPhones, social media, TV or video games have ruined our ability to concentrate, but it’s simply not true. You can use that excuse if you want, and most people will agree, or you can find things that pique your interest and really spend some time digging into them.
