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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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The Attention Span of a Goldfish

10/03/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - More or Less, The Attention Span of a Goldfish

Are our attention spans now shorter than a goldfish's?

Everyone knows our attention spans are getting shorter. It's just obvious. In the always-connected world of social media, smartphones and hyperlinks in the middle of everything you read, it's become that much harder to stay focused. And there are statistics too. They say that the average attention span is down from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds now. That's less than the nine-second attention span of your average goldfish.

But the statistics are not all that they seem - and neither is the received wisdom about goldfish.


Producer/Presenter: Simon Maybin

(Image: Shutterstock/Goldfish)

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