Human attention span was reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds between 2000-2015.

It is also difficult for us to focus for longer than 20-30 minutes, which is why a good public speaker should be less than 20 minutes and lectures are generally less than 45 minutes.

I try to measure my attention span by tracking how long I can focus on a task before my mind starts to wander.

I stop the clock as soon as I get distracted, even if for only 10 seconds and I resume work immediately after.

Link to the Tableau workbook.

How this was made

I recorded my work sessions with a timesheet software called Clockify. The viz is done in Tableau.

It does not cover all my work sessions, but is a good representation of my pattern.

Further reading

The shallows is a good book on how the internet affects our brain.

This Guardian article offers a more balanced view.

_{*Post icon: Memory by Adrien Coquet from the Noun Project.}