The average human attention span has dropped to just eight seconds.
Eight seconds.
Does that number surprise you? I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than curling up with a good book.
Yet over the past few years, I’ve noticed the shift. My attention span has shortened, and my ability to stay focused isn’t what it used to be.
I’m not alone. Conversations with colleagues, clients, and friends reveal the same pattern.
We are losing our ability to focus.
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Recapturing that focus and consciously deciding what, when, and where our attention goes is becoming increasingly important.
Our appetite for constant information, combined with social media and other technology, is hijacking our attention. Understanding the implications of this shift matters not only for our personal lives but also for how organizations manage change.
That’s what writer and journalist Johann Hari explores in Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again. It is the second book in our book club series.
In the book, he examines why our attention is deteriorating, why it matters, and what we can do about it.
The Currency of the Future
One of my biggest takeaways from the book is that focus, deep thinking, and the ability to pay attention will become the currency of the future.
Every day, we are bombarded with information. Many people feel overwhelmed, drowning in a sea of data while still feeling ill-informed. The constant demand for our attention fragments our days, making it difficult to determine what truly matters.
That small computer in your pocket is making things harder, not easier. As Hari notes, it is affecting everything from our mental health to our democracy. Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google, warns that we are becoming less rational, less intelligent, and less focused.
I once worked with a manager on the verge of burnout. He received more than one hundred emails a day, along with text messages and other interruptions. Every time he tried to sit down to do meaningful work, something demanded his attention. When I suggested turning off email notifications, he said he couldn’t because he might miss something important.
Ironically, the constant interruptions made him less effective and reduced his ability to concentrate when it mattered most.
The Impact of Distractions
Hari explains that these distractions have become so normalized that many people no longer recognize them as multitasking. Yet the impact on performance is significant.
A study at HP found that technological interruptions, such as emails, text messages, and phone calls, caused a 10-point drop in IQ. Simply having our phones constantly turned on may reduce our brain power by 20 to 30 percent.
A similar dynamic can occur during organizational change. Organizations often attempt multiple changes at once or move quickly from one initiative to another without giving people time to stabilize and sustain new behaviours.
When changes fail to stick, organizations can become trapped in a cycle of initiatives that drain energy and reduce capacity. One change leader shared with me that her company was implementing the same technology for the third time because the first two attempts had failed.
Communication and Comprehension
Technology is also reshaping how we communicate and process information. In the 1960s, Canadian professor Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message,” meaning the form of communication influences how we interpret it.
Today’s technologies continue to shape how we see the world. Platforms like X encourage us to reduce complex ideas to short messages, while image-based platforms reinforce the importance of appearance and approval.
This has implications for organizational change. Email has become the primary communication method in many organizations, yet it can easily undermine change efforts. Messages are often misinterpreted, and research shows we comprehend less when reading on screens.
Anne Mangen’s research at the University of Norway found that people understand and retain less information when reading digitally compared to reading on paper. For leaders communicating during change, this is an important consideration.
Empathy and Creativity
Another concern raised in Stolen Focus is the effect fragmented attention may have on empathy. Leaders need empathy to understand the impact of change from the perspective of the people doing the work.
Research from the University of Toronto shows that reading fiction can increase empathy by helping us step into other people’s perspectives. This insight reinforces the importance of storytelling during change.
Creativity also requires time for the mind to wander. Hari explains that daydreaming helps us make sense of the world, connect ideas, and imagine future possibilities.
For this reason, I now take a regular walk completely unplugged. Instead of listening to a podcast or making calls, I let my mind wander. I’ve found it increases my creativity, productivity, and sense of calm.
The same principle applies to organizational change. Sustainable change requires time and space for people to reflect, understand what the change means, and form new habits.
Taking Back Control
Many of us have opened our phones to check one thing and found ourselves scrolling thirty minutes later. Infinite scroll, designed by Aza Raskin, was created to keep us engaged longer. He estimates that the feature costs the equivalent of 200,000 human lifetimes in scrolling every day.
One way to regain control is by using the tools already available to limit distractions. I turned off most notifications on my phone, which helps protect time for focused work.
The same idea applies to organizational change. When leaders expect people to adopt new behaviours, the environment must support those behaviours. As we used to say in health promotion, “Make the healthy choice the easy choice.”
Ironically, when organizations initiate fewer changes and focus on helping them stick, they often achieve better results.
Read Stolen Focus (if you haven’t already). It offers an eye-opening look at how modern technology and information overload are reshaping our ability to think, focus, and connect.
And why reclaiming our attention may be one of the most important leadership skills for navigating change today.
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