Are our attention spans shrinking?

 By Tyler Salisbury

Frequent social media use may be contributing to shorter attention spans among some students at Stonehill College, who say their phones are distracting and disrupting their ability to focus in class and while studying.

 

Psychology professor Samantha Benavidez-Walsh at Stonehill college, said research on attention spans is still ongoing, but studies suggest a noticeable shift in the people’s duration of focus.

 

“In 2004, adult attention span was roughly around 2.5 minutes… these days it’s around 47 seconds,” she said.

 

Those numbers come from research led by Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies attention and digital behavior. She found that the average time people spend on a single screen-based task has been declining over the past two decades.

 

For some college students, those numbers feel representative.

 

Connor Caprio, a junior at Stonehill college, said he is always checking his phone in the middle of studying, especially apps like Snapchat and Messages.

 

“It definitely has changed my attention span because when I need to focus, I have to put my phone away not to get affected, so it has definitely affected me,” he said.

 

Colin Ronayne, a senior at Stonehill College, said he also struggles to stay focused, saying he does not go “more than 10 to 15 minutes without checking” his phone while doing schoolwork.

 

“I have never considered myself to have a large attention span, but since using social media it has definitely gotten smaller,” Ronayne said. “I find myself switching from activity to activity when I am doing one thing for too long.”

 

Caden Gidarakos, a student at Stonehill College, said he has similar habits.

 

“It makes you used to a quicker payoff,” he said. “When you actually have to focus for a longer period, you can’t.”

 

Students say short-form content plays a huge role. Apps like TikTok and Instagram allow people to scroll through content in seconds.

 

Ronayne said this constant exposure to short and fast content makes it harder to focus on longer tasks.

 

“People are adapting to short content and shorter learning,” he said.

 

Benavidez-Walsh said this may be linked to how the brain processes rewards.

 

“Short form content feeds our reward system immediately,” she said.

 

One study by researcher Alina Poles, for the Scientific Research Publishing, found a negative relationship between heavy social media use and sustained attention, suggesting that excessive use may make it more difficult to focus on longer tasks.

 

In the classroom, students think the impact is noticeable. Ronayne said there have been moments where he has “fully stopped paying attention in class” after being distracted by his phone or laptop.

 

Nicolas Nogueria, a junior at Stonehill College, said his attention span has also changed over time.

 

“My attention span has definitely gotten shorter since I started using social media,” he said. “I often feel the urge to check my phone during conversations or while watching TV.”

 

He also said social media is his biggest distraction when it comes to everyday life.

 

Still, not all students believe social media is the only factor. Nogueira said his ability to focus often depends on how interesting and engaging a class is.

 

“When I enjoy a class, I can stay focused, but when I don’t, I struggle,” he said.

 

Benavidez-Walsh agreed, saying that attention can also be influenced by interest in the material.

 

“I remember being a college student myself and zoning out when material didn’t feel relevant,” she said.

 

Ronayne said differences between generations may also play a role.

 

“It may just be that people learn in different ways,” he said.

 

Despite these challenges, experts say there are ways to improve focus. Benavidez-Walsh recommends strategies like putting phones in a different room, studying with focused peers and turning off all notifications.

 

While attention spans may be changing, Benavidez-Walsh, a psychology professor at Stonehill College, said the decline appears to be slowing.