Fickle Attention

In 2023, when US pharmaceuticals ran out of medicines for ADHD, which stands for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, it brought to light the acute problem of attention deficiency. Millions of people in the US are diagnosed with ADHD. And it isn’t only children who are treated for ADHD; it is also adults. Why is ADHD on the rise? Could it be a recent problem or has it always been a glitch in the human brain? We could also ask if it is exclusive to humans. Here, one can’t help but recall the idiom, ‘attention span of a goldfish,’ which means a short attention span. 

It is the internet era where people turn to the internet to answer every possible question, from school assignments to work research. Then there are problems such as health issues, minor questions about daily life, and practicalities that lead modern humans to tap away queries on the internet. As Google faces steep competition from AI-generated chats, users find themselves turning increasingly to AI for answers. And it is disquieting how ubiquitous AI has become along with smart devices. While carrying out a daily task with electronic devices, users tend to shift and change tabs on the internet, write in MS Word, PowerPoint, or Excel, send off an email and search for the best takeout restaurant. They are constantly changing their track when it comes to their tasks at hand. 

It calls to mind the term multitasking. Does it help that our attention is shifted, doubled down and concentrated while also being pulled to different directions when it comes to the perusal of the internet? When it comes to attention, there are too many diversions in the current age and time. The internet is just a tap away on the smartphone. Our world is increasingly and constantly connected and it has hurt our attention.  

It doesn’t help that social media is addictive or that there are readily available apps for activities such as fitness and exercise, entertainment, health, news updates, sports and so on. Attention is divided and proportioned for each of these activities and we are left all the poorer when it comes to focusing on any one activity. Multitasking may have its benefits but it adds a load to the human brain. Our ancestors didn’t have the internet or the smartphone and they did survive. Given that the world has become more advanced science and technology-wise, it is alarming that attention span has gotten more and more limited. Screen time for many may be a time to relax, but studies have shown that it lowers their performance when it comes to attention. 

Attention is required to perform a task effectively and competently. It is the ability to focus on a problem at hand, such as answering school assignments. And we all know that we are more attentive in some tasks, such as watching a TikTok video and less attentive in others, such as reading a required chapter for class. It could thus help to learn to engage one’s attention to the right task for the right duration. As such, it could necessitate disconnecting from diversions such as the internet, social media and smartphones to focus due attention on the required work.