A look at one of the most overlooked problems in today’s world

Abhay Bethur, Staff Writer

How often do you start reading or studying something, but halfway through, you feel your mind start wandering? Or what if you are in the middle of an extremely boring class, and your mind starts to drift off, thinking about what you are going to eat for lunch? This is one of those problems that is universal. So what is this called? 

It is called the attention span. The simple definition is that it is the length of time for which a person is able to concentrate mentally on a particular activity. Most people in today’s day and age are never able to focus for more than a max of 50 minutes at a time. This is especially prevalent within teenagers and ultimately poses a lot of issues. Statistics show that from ages 10-16, the attention span varies from 20 to 48 minutes. The ability to focus for longer than 50 mins for most teenagers is usually uncommon. So why is that? 

Well, there are plenty of potential reasons for this. Sometimes it may be out of someone’s control. Some kids and teenagers might have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). This is a serious issue amongst kids that can severely impact both growths in school and communication skills when building up relationships. Depression may also play a role in an individual’s short attention span, caused by persistent feelings of sadness and a loss of interest in things one once liked. This sometimes has the effect of making people lose focus and finding it difficult to concentrate. 

Social media is also the most prevalent reason for short attention spans outside of natural reasons. Social media is unique in that it has provided people with access to fast-paced technology and that is always engaging to the brain. Such access to this ever-changing stream of connections means people have normalized constantly multi-tasking, preventing people from being able to fully focus on one task at a time, especially students. When the mind is so crowded, processing so many different things, it makes sense that this would lead to shorter attention spans. 

While this is a big issue, there are still many different ways to handle it, through both natural and artificial methods. There are short-term solutions such as chewing gum; studies show that gum helps in relieving stress and increasing alertness. There are also medications that help people focus for longer stretches of time. While this helps, it should not be the first go-to for students. Natural remedies, however, historically work better for the long-term because they offer a more permanent solution. Meditation is a well-known use for fixing issues related to attention span as it aids in training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. Another great way to improve focus is exercise. Numerous studies have shown that simply taking a walk for 30 minutes can help calm the mind. 

This is a massive issue with people and a lot of people don’t even understand or realize it. A lot of times people just think there’s something wrong with themselves but that is hardly the case at all. Realizing and understanding the problem is the first step and from there, working to find a solution can have incredible long-term positive effects on someone’s lifestyle.