What were we talking about? Oh yeah. Now before we get to the details, you fellow Earthlings from other countries should not be laughing at Canadians, for you might be in the same boat. After all, you’ve likely got a smartphone and are being assailed by texts and probably use that 140-character social media site and watch all manner of news blips and bites.
Oh shit, left the kettle on.
Microsoft has produced a 54-page study — obviously Canadians will not be able to read it all — that picks upon those of us in ‘The True North Strong and Free.’ They surveyed 2,000 Canadians and monitored 112 of our brains and found that since the year 2000, the Canucklehead attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to eight.
Did American Idol get cancelled?
A lot of our attention span erosion is likely due to smartphones. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they check their phone every 30 minutes or less and 79 percent use those phones even as they watch television. Of those respondents between the ages of 18 to 24, 77 percent said their mobile device is the first thing they turn to whenever they feel bored.
“Canadians with more digital lifestyles (those who consume more media, are multi-screeners, social media enthusiasts, or earlier adopters of technology) struggle to focus in environments where prolonged attention is needed,” the study says.
There’s my keys!
Accomplishing a task through repetitive activities is also a tough one. To stay on a task involving repetitive activities, 54 percent of respondents said that they had to concentrate “really hard.” Thirty-seven percent said that using their time poorly at work due to a lack of focus can lead to extra time working evenings or weekends.
Similar studies have indeed been done on others in other countries and similar results have been found. So yeah, it is a function of our lifestyles and not something that only Canadians are having issues with. Anyways, the point is that as a Canadian I’m really enjoying this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
What year did we get the cat?
