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Is the human attention span really 8 seconds?

The goldfish myth · By Ilia Usatov · November 2026 · 5 min read

You have probably seen it: humans now have an attention span of 8 seconds, shorter than a goldfish’s 9. It is quoted in talks, articles and marketing decks. It also has no solid source, and the idea of a single “attention span” doesn’t hold up well either. Here is where the number came from, and what research does show.

Where the 8 seconds came from

The figure spread in 2015 through a consumer insights report by Microsoft Canada. The report didn’t measure it. It credited a website called Statistic Brain, which in turn pointed to other sources. When the BBC’s statistics programme More or Less tried to trace it in 2017, it found no clear evidence behind the number.

The goldfish half is no better. Nobody has a method for measuring a goldfish’s attention span, and what researchers have measured, goldfish memory, turns out to be quite good.

Why “average attention span” is a shaky idea

An expert the BBC spoke to made the point that how long you can pay attention depends on what you are doing. The same person can lose interest in a dull video after a few seconds and follow a film, a game or a hard problem for hours. A single number for “human attention span” doesn’t mean much.

What has actually been measured

There is real research on a narrower question: how long people stay on one screen before switching to something else. Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, has tracked this in office workers for two decades:

• In studies around 2003–2004, researchers with stopwatches found people switched screens about every 2.5 minutes.
• Later studies, using logging software, found about 75 seconds around 2012.
• Studies between 2016 and 2020 found an average of about 47 seconds.

That isn’t a measure of how long you can focus. It describes how often people do switch at work, with email, chat and notifications pulling at them. The methods also changed over time, so the numbers aren’t a perfect comparison. Still, the trend points the same way: more switching.

What you can do about it

• Remove the triggers. Switching is often a response to a ping. Silence notifications for a focused block.
• Work in planned blocks. Deciding in advance how long you will focus and when you will break makes the next switch a choice, not a reflex. See whether the Pomodoro Technique works.
• Make time visible. A timer you can see answers “how long have I been at this?” without a trip to another app.

Sources

1. BBC News. Busting the attention span myth, 2017.
2. Microsoft Canada. Attention spans, Consumer Insights report, 2015.
3. University of California. How to sharpen your attention and meet your goals (interview with Gloria Mark), 2024.
4. Mark G. Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity. Hanover Square Press, 2023.