Researchers monitored adults at work by tracking device activity and measuring how long people stayed on one task. Adults averaged about three minutes on a single task before switching to something else, and they spent barely more than two minutes on any software or paper document. College students showed even shorter attention spans during computer use over ten hours, with an average single-task duration of about nineteen seconds. A large share of content was viewed for very brief periods, including many items viewed for five seconds or less. Most content interacted with over the ten hours was viewed for less than a minute, indicating frequent task switching and limited sustained focus.
"A group of researchers followed adults in their jobs over an extended period and monitored what they did on their devices and how long they stayed on just one task. The researchers found that adults averaged three minutes on a single task without getting distracted by something else; they barely spent more than two minutes on any software or paper document before switching (Gonzalez and Mark, 2004)."
"The data look even worse for college students. In another study, researchers examined college students' computer behavior over 10 hours and found that the average time college students spent on a single task without switching was 19 seconds. In fact, 20 percent of all content students interacted with was only viewed for five seconds or less, and 75 percent-that's almost all of the content they engaged with for 10 hours-was viewed for less than a minute (Yeykelis, 2014)."
"With too many distractions and choices, people have less self-control, less persistence, and less accuracy."
Read at Psychology Today
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