Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Many people struggle with distraction some days, according to Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, who studies how digital media affects our lives.
In her new book, Attention Deficit: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity, Mark explains how she traces the subject of declining attention spans to decades of research.
“In 2004, we measured the average screen attention span to two and a half minutes,” Mark said. “A few years later, we found that the attention span became about 75 seconds. Now, we find that people can only focus on one screen for 47 seconds.” in the middle”.
And Mark pointed out that people can focus for less than a minute on any screen, and when their attention is diverted during their work on an active project, it takes them about 25 minutes to regain focus on this task.
But, how does that happen?
“If we look at work in terms of switching between projects, people spend about 10-and-a-half minutes working on a project before they get distracted – internally or by someone else – and then move on to another,” Mark explains.
She continues that when we are interrupted during the second project, we switch to a different task – a third project, rather than returning to the original work.
Incredibly, Mark’s research shows that people also get distracted while working on the third project, and move on to working on a fourth.
After that, we’d go back to the original project, but after spending 25 minutes working on other tasks, Mark explained.
The multitasking myth
But, is this a problem? Many believe that multitasking is a valuable skill for dealing with the demands of the information age.
“With the exception of a few rare individuals, there is no such thing as multitasking,” Mark explained.
“Unless one of the tasks is automatic, like chewing gum or walking, you can’t do two stressful things at once.”
For example, you can’t read your email and participate in a video meeting, and once you focus on one, you lose focus on the other.
What actually happens, Mark explained, is that you quickly switch your attention between the two tasks. And when you do, you expose yourself to stress.
She noted that psychological measures of stress also show negative outcomes, such as more fatigue, more mistakes, and lower productivity.
Mark blames technology such as social media, tablets, TV screens, and email.
How do you regain your focus?
Mark explained that regaining focus requires one to be aware of how one uses one’s technology,
The average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.
Ironically, you can use technology to help regain focus.
Mark recommends scheduling work for the first part of the day when you’re not fully alert, and then using technology to block out distractions when you’re at your best focused. And in the evening, clear the tasks from your mind by writing them down.
And if social networking sites distract you, Mark advises hiding them from your smartphone, or leaving the same phone in another room or inside your desk drawer.
She noted that it is important to know when your break time comes, explaining that if you have to re-read a topic more than once in order to understand what is written, it is time to stop and take a break.
The best type of break is walking in the middle of nature, and Mark explained that practicing this activity for only 20 minutes in the middle of nature helps greatly in feeling relaxed.
“We found that walking in nature can help people produce significantly more ideas – this is known as divergent thinking,” she added.
