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Q: Wandering Attention Span ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Wandering Attention Span
Category: Health
Asked by: bunker-ga
List Price: $25.00
Posted: 09 Jan 2004 23:41 PST
Expires: 08 Feb 2004 23:41 PST
Question ID: 294978
How long does it take for the attention span to wander?  I've heard
the brain wanders away briefly every 7 seconds but then comes back.  I
would like any and all statistics about the shrinking attention span
of Americans.  Thank you.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Wandering Attention Span
Answered By: bobbie7-ga on 10 Jan 2004 12:20 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
?Neil Postman writes in his book, "Amusing ourselves to Death" that
the attention span of humans was considerably longer years ago. The
specific example he uses in his book is that of the Lincoln-Douglas
debates in the 1800's which were literally read from paper and lasted
for hours. Postman notes that amazingly, the people stayed, listened
and paid attention. Today, I doubt we could expect to read any
statement for 8 - 10 hours and have an audience of people stay in the
room, let alone stay focused.?
Help4Teachers.com
http://www.help4teachers.com/ras.htm


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In the book ?The Complete Guide to Public Speaking? by Jeff Davidson
it says that attention spans are at 7 minutes, an all time low.

On page 0: 
?People's attention spans are decreasing to all-time lows. If you're
in front of a group and you don't have something humorous to say at
least once every seven minutes, you are going to have a tough time.?
Amazon search inside this book feature
http://www.amazon.com/


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Attention span.

?It seems pretty clear that attention spans have decreased in children
over the last 30 years or so, and TV is the most commonly blamed
culprit. It makes perfect sense, too: if you grow up watching six or
seven hours of TV a day, and it's always broken up into 12-minutes
chunks, you're going to slowly become conditioned to getting antsy
after doing any single thing for 12 minutes or more. My mother, a
former fourth grade teacher, offers as anecdotal evidence the fact
that when she started teaching fourth grade in 1970 she knew that she
couldn't schedule an activity to last any longer than 30 minutes or so
because the kids would start getting too restless. By the time she
retired earlier this year, she claims that 15 minutes was the limit.?
http://members.cox.net/kdrum/Tvevil.htm


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?Prakash Pradhan, Psychiatrist, Nair Hospital, Mumbai, says that
'attention span' is the ability to maintain focus on stimuli. Not so
long ago, the time span associated with this term was in the order of
minutes, but over a period of time it has been gradually shrinking.?

Rediff
http://www.rediff.com/search/2002/jun/27please.htm


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Attention Span in Children:

Ages 2-3 
-Have attention span 3-4 minutes longer when he enjoys
Ages 4-5 
-Have attention span of between 5-10 minutes
Ages 6-8 
-Have attention span of 15-20 minutes
Ages 9-12 
-Have attention span of 30-45 minutes

Child Development charts at bible.ca
http://www.bible.ca/f-child-age-development-chart.htm



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 ?According to many statistics, the average attention span for web
browsing is about 10 seconds.?
http://www.integrationnewmedia.com/about/newsroom/whitepaper/pdfsfly.pdf


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Average continuous attention span of a literate human: 8 seconds.
Maximum possible continuous attention span for a literate human: 30 seconds. 
Average general attention span of a literate human: 10 - 12 minutes. 

Simon Fraser University
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:vgmYm4kiFQoJ:www.sfu.ca/~dant/projects/cmns200/files/013%2520wk11%2520notes.doc+%22attention+Span+of%22&hl=es&ie=UTF-8


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?The average human attention span is approximately 8 -10 seconds per
slide on-screen, this translates to about 26 words.?
VCR Active Media
http://vcractive.com/news/helpfulhints/35mmslides.pdf


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The age group between 12 and 20 years old has a shorter attention span.

 ?This age group hates to be bored and they seek entertainment in
everything they do -- including college and the work they expect to do
when they graduate. Many studies we reviewed indicated this generation
really does have a shorter attention span. One research study actually
suggested that the attention span of most adolescents is about 11
minutes -- roughly the time between commercials in a typical
television show.?

The New Student Generation: Are We Ready? Do We Care?
by George C. Dehne
http://www.dehne.com/news_research/research_new_student.html


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Hypoglycemia Reduces Attention Span

?Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), which can occur when otherwise
healthy individuals neglect to eat, can slow the speed at which people
process information and shorten their attention span, researchers
explain.?
Mercola.com
http://www.mercola.com/2001/oct/10/blood_sugar_add.htm


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?The average five year old doesn't have a very long attention span.
Depending on the interest level of the activity, fifteen to twenty
minutes is probably about the extent of patience that a child of that
age has to stay with a given task, particularly if it isn't
self-selected.?
iVillage Inc.
http://www.parentsoup.com/elementary/ed/qas/0,,500795_225679,00.html


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?A normal attention span is 3 to 5 minutes per year of a child's age.
Therefore, a 2-year-old should be able to concentrate on a particular
task for at least 6 minutes, and a child entering kindergarten should
be able to concentrate for at least 15 minutes. (Note: A child's
attention span while watching TV is not an accurate measure of his or
her attention span.)?
Children's Hospital of Orange County, Inc
http://www.choc.com/pediatric/hhg/battentn.htm


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From A BBC News Article:

The addictive nature of web browsing can leave you with an attention
span of nine seconds - the same as a goldfish.

"Our attention span gets affected by the way we do things," says Ted
Selker, an expert in the online equivalent of body language at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

"If we spend our time flitting from one thing to another on the web,
we can get into a habit of not concentrating," he told the BBC
programme Go Digital.?

?With literally millions of websites at our fingertips, the attention
span of the average web surfer is measured in seconds.?

BBC NEws
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1834682.stm


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Studies on attention span

?Studies on attention span also shed light on why students have
difficulty with the traditional lecture format. Adult learners can
keep tuned in to a lecture for no more than 15 to 20 minutes at a
time, and this at the beginning of the class. In 1976, A. H. Johnstone
and F. Percival observed students in over 90 lectures, with twelve
different lecturers, recording breaks in student attention. They
identified a general pattern: After three to five minutes of "settling
down" at the start of class, one study found that "the next lapse of
attention usually occurred some 10 to 18 minutes later, and as the
lecture proceeded the attention span became shorter and often fell to
three or four minutes towards the end of a standard lecture." Other
studies appear to confirm these findings.?

"As the lecture proceeded attention spans became shorter and often
fell to three or four minutes towards the end of a standard lecture."

The National Teaching and Learning Forum
http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9601/article1.htm


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Attention span at conference about 20 minutes 
Attention span in a telehealth format about 8 minutes 
Attention span searching the Internet about 30 seconds
BC Cancer Agency
http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/RS/CommunitiesOncologyNetwork/EducationandPlanningConferences/AnnualCancerConference2002/ProvOncProf/FamilyPhysicians/Minutes.htm

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The average attention span of an adult is 20 minutes.
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bvz/presentation.html


The average attention span of a college student is 25 minutes.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:SAgXOMu_YUgJ:www.mac.drake.edu/org/times_d/98_99/march/3_9/oped.html+%22attention+span%22+OR+%22span+of+attention%22+minutes+OR+seconds&hl=es&ie=UTF-8


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?Most people can maintain an attention span of eight minutes. Then the
mind begins to wander.?
http://researchmag.asu.edu/stories/grabsci.html


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?Mittendorf and Kalish note that studies on attention span indicate
that, when passively absorbing information, adult learners usually
experience mental lapses after a mere 15-20 minutes.?
Teaching Concerns Newsletter
http://trc.virginia.edu/tc/1997/ChangeUp.htm


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?Remember that the average listener has a brief attention span. The
average human attention span is 15 seconds, according to David Perry,
in his Media How-To Guidebook?
American Association of School Administrators
http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/1999_09/foc_horchem.htm


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?Attention span of teens is 30 sec ? 5 minutes, matching some top
managers. Maybe the decreasing attention span may be far from
dysfunctional (Brown)?
Simon Fraser University: School of Computing Science
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/CourseCentral/320/mgabier/computers_education_children.ppt


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?More information is coming at us faster and in greater volume than
ever before. the attention span of adult learners is getting
increasingly short, making training that much more difficult.?
http://www.smilefactor.com/about.htm

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?They say that the average American has an attention span of about 20
minutes, which is decreasing every year. With our decreasing attention
span comes a decreasing ability to retain what we have learned. Our
ability to recall information we have learned is also decreasing every
year.?
St. James Church
http://www.stjamesrec.org/Sermons/Pentecost.htm


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For further reading:
 
TV Has Conquered Short Attention Span
http://www.businessconferences.com/Resources/WakeUpTheSpeechIsOver.doc



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I hope my findings are helpful for you!

Best wishes,
Bobbie7
bunker-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
Dear Bobbie7, This was a fantastic answer and I can really use the
information. Thank you for your terrific research and the mountain of
facts you found.  Your infomration is excellent.  Thanks again!

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