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Digital lifestyles reduce attention span

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 19 May 2015
The consumer's attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish due to digital lifestyles.
The consumer's attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish due to digital lifestyles.

Attention spans are getting shorter due to digital lifestyles, but that does not mean consumers are not focusing anymore. Instead, patterns of focus have merely changed, according to Microsoft Canada advertising research.

Microsoft set out to investigate how digital lifestyles were affecting consumers' attention; a "necessary ingredient for effective advertising", states the report.

"It is no surprise that increased media consumption and digital lifestyles reduce the ability for consumers to focus for extended periods of time," says Alyson Gausby, consumer insights lead at Microsoft Canada. "But I never would have guessed that tech-savvy consumers are actually getting better at processing information and encoding that information to memory."

The research was conducted at the end of 2014, via an online quantitative survey of 2 000 Canadian respondents, and neurological research with 112 participants.

The findings showed 44% of the 2 000 Canadians surveyed have to really concentrate to stay focused on tasks and 45% are easily side-tracked. The four main aspects that impact attention are media consumption, social media use, technology adoption rate and multi-screening behaviour.

Explaining multi-screening behaviour, Gausby says: "Consumers turn to their secondary screens to fill in those in-between moments when they might otherwise drop off completely; they're more engaged overall and already primed for immersive experiences."

Brain activity was also recorded while consumers interacted with media so attention spikes could be measured.

Goldfish mentality

The average human attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds, going down to eight seconds in 2013; the average attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds. The report states 19% of online viewers shift attention after 10 seconds. This means that to keep a consumer on a Web site, their attention needs to be grabbed within 10 seconds.

The research showed interesting spikes between different age groups, particularly those aged 18 to 24 compared to those over 65. When presented with the statement "when nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone", 77% of the younger generation said yes compared with 10% of those older.

However, when asked if they use other devices while watching TV, 79% of 18- to 24-year-olds said yes and 42% of those over 65.

The research concluded that to effectively hold the attention of consumers, marketers need to address three different types of attention:

1. Sustained attention
Consumers concentrate in small bursts and, to get their attention, marketers need to get to the point quickly and clearly.

2. Selective attention
Increased multi-screening behaviour leads to a decline in the consumer's ability to filter out distractions so marketers need to defy expectations to grab attention.

3. Alternating attention
Consumers are now able to switch between tasks very easily, but they can get overwhelmed. One way for marketers to keep attention is to extend the experience to other screens.

For the full report, click here.

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