What if I told you that the average attention span on any screen before switching or diverting was 47 seconds?
What if we knew that after any interruption it takes on average 25 minutes to regain full focus?
What if I told you these interruptions are more internal rather than external? Yes, that’s right; we create more of the interruptions for ourselves than external forces do! Our need to view the next TikTok reel is greater than any external distraction!
All of these are true, and it has me thinking.
I have recently listened to Attention Span1 by Gloria Mark, a psychologist who researches attention span and the part technology plays.
What if the intention of social media and the internet was to prime us and attract our attention similar to that of neon lights? That is why we keep watching those TikTok reels endlessly.
Priming can lead us to think about and do things automatically, responding to a cue. Exposure to such priming can affect what we bring to mind and also the choices we make. It reminds me of that pair of boots I searched for online and now appear in almost every search engine and social media site I engage in. We all know that our searches are analysing the algorithms of what we desire, bombarding us, hoping we weaken to purchase and watch more. Often we eventually do.
As schools and educators, let’s capitalise upon the neuroscience of priming and create the algorithms ourselves. Let’s search for every opportunity to prime our students for the behaviours we wish to see. With our distractibility at such a high rate, we all need to be constantly primed to help us remain focused.
Term 3 is not too far away, so let’s get off on the right foot and seek a wide variety of opportunities to prime our young people for the behaviours we wish to see:
- At the beginning, middle and end of every class
- At morning assembly
- In the playground
- At the beginning of breaks and at the end of breaks.
- On the school electronic notice board or billboard
- Flashing across the school’s home page or internal workspace
- On Google Classroom or One Note
- On notice boards along the corridors throughout the school.
- In the newsletter and on Facebook
- In assemblies and Year group meetings
- In the morning messages
The list is endless.
We know from this research that everyone needs to hear and see the priming more than once, and stating the desired behaviours through priming enables us to be more inclined to act on the plan we can imagine.
1Attention Span: Finding Focus for a Fulfilling Life. Gloria Mark. Harper Collins Publishers. GB. July 2024
Warm regards,
