The Goldfish Test

I once read the attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds…

and humans could possibly have less than that!

How do we compare?

We live in what has sometimes been known as the information age, the digital age, the computer age or the New Media age but what ever you want to call it .. Is it doing us harm?

We live in short bursts of information from receiving brief text messages, 280 characters on twitter, 500 - 600 words in a blog post and some steemit posts even less :-)

We are now conditioned to skim read most things just because of the fact that we are bombarded with too much information and don’t have time to take everything in.

So I won’t be offended if you skim read this.
Well maybe a little…

So back to the original question…

Is it doing us harm?

Not necessarily…

Having a fleeting attention span could actually mean:

• Learning about a mass of different subjects in a shorter amount of time

• More intelligent people refuse to pay attention to everything anyway and prioritise by selecting and focusing what matters to them the most

• Albert Einstein even recommended NOT to try and memorise everything...
  when you can just look it up

• Your ideas can me more expansive because they cover a wider range

• With having more choice of information you can have a wealth of sources giving you the ability to be more creative in whatever area you are dealing with from business to blogging

So lets look at it positively and believe we are advancing into a super human race of hyper intelligent pan-dimensional beings :-)

Saying all that I think the biggest downside to the whole deal can be the addiction to the device itself. The worst case scenario I have personally seen is a young couple out for what appeared to be a romantic night out together in a very amorous atmosphere and both were staring at their smart phones not saying a word to one another. That’s when it becomes a little strange to say the least.

So what’s to be learned?

Don’t be worried about having a short attention span.
Just be worried if you start texting your partner when sat opposite them...

Still here?

Then you have passed the Goldfish test!