8 seconds

Over the Covid shutdown, I signed up for Skillshare. It's an app that allows access to hundreds of courses from leading experts on creative skills. I have learned so much from this group and hope to have my own Skillshare class soon. Stay tuned!

In a class that I was taking yesterday, the presenter mentioned that the average attention span on the internet is 8 seconds. This is frightening.

To actively fight against this trend in my morning routine this morning, I forced myself to read and not listen from my app. For a variety of reasons, I have a hard time focusing. Unwanted thoughts come and go in my mind and in meditation I am trying to change my neurological pathways. It takes effort. I have found that listening to the Scriptures has been a good solution for my distraction in the short term.

This morning, though, I read with my finger on every word and mouthed the reading as I went along. I had to see what improvements, if any, existed. Happy to report that there is good progress but in the back of my mind this 8 second attention span was continuing to shock me.

8 seconds!

And yet, my screentime measures show that I am on my phone way more than 8 seconds at a time.

Oh boy.

Are you with me? Personally, I need to combat this trend. It's robbing me of deep thought and therefore deep work. Deep thought and deep work bring about desired outcomes. Can't do it in 8 seconds.

Couple this realization with reading a book on the limits of brain function in a group for September and well - I need to seriously change some brain habits. (I joined LeaderBooks with Michael Hyatt. It's a fabulous group and I will bring insights from the group to the blog in future posts.)

Friends - I will be thinking about how to improve my focus and brain function. I have to beat the trend of 8 seconds.