Easily distracted? Here’s how to improve your attention span

Do you feel that you can’t focus? That you’ll never finish a book again? As if the only way to keep your mind and hands busy is to scroll on social media for hours?

You’re far from alone. One body of decades-long research found the average person’s attention span for a single screen is 47 seconds, down from 2.5 minutes in 2004. The 24/7 news cycle, uncertainty about the state of the world and countless hours of screen time don’t help, experts say.

Our attention span is getting shorter but you can train yourself to do better.Credit: Getty Images

“When my patients talk to me about this stuff there is often a feeling of helplessness or powerlessness,” said Dr Michael Ziffra, a psychiatrist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. “But you can change these behaviours. You can improve your attention span.”

Here are ways to start that process. As you read, challenge yourself to set a 2½-minute timer and stay on this article without looking at another device or clicking away.

How did we lose focus?

A shifting attention is an evolutionary feature, not a bug. Our brains are hardwired to quickly filter information and home in on potential threats or changes in what’s happening around us.

The things that grab our collective attentions has changed. For our ancestors, it might have been a rustle in the bushes, putting us on guard for a lurking tiger. Today, it could be a rash of breaking news alerts and phone notifications.

The COVID-19 pandemic warped many people’s sense of time and increased their screen usage as never before, said Stacey Nye, a clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Technology isn’t the only influence on our attention, experts say, but the effects of those pinging notifications or hours scrolling through 30-second videos can accumulate.

“Our attention span has really been trained to only focus in those little, small blips and it interrupts our natural focus cycles,” she said.

Give your wandering mind ‘active’ breaks

Experts say “active” breaks are among the best way to retrain your mind and your attention. They take only about 30 minutes, Nye said, and can be as simple as taking a walk while noticing things around you or moving to another room for lunch.

Don’t be afraid to get creative. Develop a list of alternative activities or randomly choose ideas, for example, craft projects, a short meditation, fixing a quick meal or taking a walk outside. All the better if you can involve a friend as well.

The break needs to be a physical or mental activity – no passive phone-scrolling.

When the brain is understimulated and looking for change, it will usually fasten onto the first thing it sees. The smartphone, an “ever-producing change machine”, is an enticing option, said cognitive neuroscientist Cindy Lustig.

Her advice: turn off unnecessary notifications and put that “do not disturb” mode to good use, especially before bedtime. Better yet, put your phone in another room.

Say ‘no’ to multitasking

Multitasking may make you feel as if you’re getting more done, but brain experts recommend against it. “Be a single tasker,” Nye said. “Work on one thing at a time, for a specified period of time and begin to work your way up.”

Lustig is a big fan of the “Pomodoro technique”, that’s setting a kitchen timer and working on a task for 25 or 30 minutes before taking a five-minute break.

She tells herself: “I can do anything for this amount of time” and the world will still be waiting for her at the end.

Start with something you like and set a goal

It’s not enough to just have a hobby, Lustig said. It helps to choose an activity – one you enjoy – that requires deliberate practice and a goal, for example playing guitar for an audience or improving in a sport.

“You don’t want to start with the heavy non-fiction or War and Peace,” Lustig said. “If you need to start with the romance novel, then start with the romance novel. You can work your way up.”

It’s also important to be kind to yourself as everyone has good and bad days. Attention needs are different – and even vary from task to task.

The key is to make an intentional effort, experts say.

“It is in many ways similar to a muscle in the sense that we can build it up with practice and exercises,” Ziffra said. “Conversely, it can weaken if we’re not exercising it.”

AP