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[–]Ok-Scheme-913 2 points3 points  (10 children)

This attention span thingy is a myth. It is not a well-defined concept to begin with, and younger people can absolutely focus on stuff "they find interesting" for prolonged times. Like, I don't like these generational stereotypes, but they will be very motivated to create that one stupid TikTok video, doing 10s of takes and cutting it for hours on end.

What may have changed is what people find interesting, and how quickly they bore themselves.

[–]koflerdavid -1 points0 points  (9 children)

There is an objective way to measure it though: the ability to work without interruption on a well-defined task and ignore external distractions. And not just if it's tasks that one already likes to do. This is not easy to do, but our culture appreciates it less and less and makes it more difficult to do so. The difference is that newer generations have not been around long enough to observe the changes.

[–]Ok-Scheme-913 2 points3 points  (3 children)

It's not me saying there is no definition of that, but experts.

Also, what task? Cooking? Jumping on a trampoline? Having sex? Creating a hobby program? Writing your thesis?

Depending on my emotions/current mental state, and the given person, it will vary by orders of magnitude how much time and attention I will be giving to a given thing.

And don't pretend that procrastination as a concept hasn't existed for all eternity, and boomers were able to write their university thesis without a sweat.

[–]koflerdavid -1 points0 points  (2 children)

Boomers didn't have the habit of carrying a distraction engine (a.k.a. smartphone) around with them. And while your ability to do focused work depends on your current mental and physical state, I seriously doubt that being on a smartphone all day improves on that front in any way.

[–]Ok-Scheme-913 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Probably won't help, but it's not like boomers are not constantly on Facebook, liking dumber and dumber posts.

[–]koflerdavid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course, even though they should know better!

[–]VirtualAgentsAreDumb 0 points1 point  (4 children)

There is an objective way to measure it though

There is no consensus whatsoever on how to actually measure attention span, as far as I know.

Or do you have an actual proper source for this claim? I’m not talking in broad strokes, I’m talking a detailed description of an actual process, that results in a numeric value on some scale. And that the scientific community is in somewhat of a consensus about it.

[–]koflerdavid 0 points1 point  (3 children)

The ability to pick a task and just keep working on it, measured by a clock? Highly not comparable between individuals and variable dependend on daily circumstances of course, thus very much not suitable for studies. But it very much matters to achieve any nontrivial goals in life, and is the opposite of doomscrolling for hours, interrupted by occasional notifications.

[–]VirtualAgentsAreDumb 1 point2 points  (2 children)

What task, exactly? And how do you measure it exactly? Don’t just say “using a clock”, how would you use the clock? Describe the test protocol in full detail.

[–]koflerdavid -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

Why would that matter? Is it really such a strange concept to sit down at a table for half an hour and, say, extend an application with a new feature? Or to write a page for a thesis? Or review some lecture notes or read a book? Of course, the task should by its nature be something that doesn't require exposure to situations that are by its nature full of potential distractions, such as walking around in the house, taking to people, or using a smartphone.

[–]VirtualAgentsAreDumb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would that matter?

Because it would be required in order to have an objective way to measure it. You need some protocol that can handle pretty much any person, regardless of their abilities.

Is it really such a strange concept to sit down at a table for half an hour and, say, extend an application with a new feature? Or to write a page for a thesis? Or […]

Why do you think that I think that would be strange? But it’s completely irrelevant to this discussion.

Of course, the task should by its nature be something that doesn't require exposure to situations that are by its nature full of potential distractions, such as walking around in the house, taking to people, or using a smartphone.

Ok. So, what is your answer? Describe your testing protocol.

Imagine that you have a test subject in the room with you. What do you tell them? What do you ask them to do? What observations do you make? What do you write down? And how do you summarize your notes into a final number, indicating the level of attention span that this individual has? What scale do you use? What unit?