Our narrowing and widening attention span
The divergence between immediacy and depth, and how it shapes the way we think, consume, and create
I’ve become increasingly curious about the evolution of the human attention span and how the rise of various technological innovations has impacted it. Growing up with technological shifts and introductions, my mind has developed alongside these advancements. Ages 10-12 were the rise of the smartphone; 14-18 was the prominence of social media; 18-22 the rise of short-form content, and from 25 onward came the rise of AI. As a result of these inflections, the way our brain processes information has a direct influence on how we learn, react, and consume.
To illustrate this, when LLM chatbots were first introduced, they were a novel invention for us to play around with. As they evolved, the way we interact with them and the demands we have for the instantaneousness of information also evolved. We expect immediate outputs and get frustrated by any fluff around them.
A primary byproduct of these technological shifts is an overload of access to information – everything we could possibly want is at our fingertips. With this information overload comes the desire to process and consume as much as humanly possible. While there may be some perceived benefit to this, constant context switching results in a lack of deep focus. Yet as these behaviors fester, there is also an interesting opposition occurring, almost like an active resistance away from fast consumption and toward deeper immersion.
This caused a few questions to come to mind: where does it go from here? And what does this mean for businesses and how consumers make purchasing decisions?
The divide in how we consume information will continue to strengthen, and the middle ground will be lost. Meaning that we will either continue to consume and process at lightning speed, or deliberately dedicate ourselves to deeply immersive tasks. For reference, a human attention span has decreased by about 50% since the early 2000s, largely due to the introduction of never ending distractions and gadgets competing for our attention. Those who already indulge in overconsumption will continue to let AI fuel this behavior, likely compressing attention spans even further. As AI models become more advanced, the need to think deeply may not disappear, but it will become increasingly optional, and for many, less exercised.
On the other side, there will be an active effort to revert from this behavior for some. We’ll begin to rewire our minds to enjoy depth again, finding satisfaction in sustained focus rather than constant stimulation. This produces a slower building dopamine response, as opposed to quick hit after hit. As a result, fast-paced overindulgence in information and choice becomes less appealing for a subset of people. This divide will continue to shape how we learn, consume, and ultimately how we spend.
Psychoanalyst Ernst Kris explored the concept of adaptive regression in a 1952 paper titled The Psychology of Caricature, where he argued that “adaptive regression means a movement backward—backward from adult reality to childhood make-believe.” He describes a form of controlled “unlocking,” where letting go of rigid adult logic allows us to access the raw, playful, and often more instinctive imagery of childhood.
What Kris illustrates is a return to something more rudimentary, which parallels the shift I predict in the extremes of our attention span. Searches for analog activities and crafts have increased tremendously over the past year, with people focusing more on physical hobbies and crafts to counteract a sense of disconnection and burnout. Even sales of “dumbphones” (those without internet or apps) rose by 25% in 2025.
There’s an element of reintroducing childlike exploration as a response to chronic overstimulation, which becomes more visible when we encounter a breaking point. Perhaps we became so overstimulated that the next logical step was for the mind to return to the basics. However, allowing people to “go back to the basics” runs counter to the interests and business models of most companies, which capitalize on our time, attention, and increasingly consumption-driven behaviors.
Which poses the question: what does this mean for businesses?
Naturally, as the way we process and consume shifts, so do the strategies of those who influence consumer spending and our economies. It’s a known fact that the most valuable currency is time, and these companies monetize and compete purely for our attention. A well-known saying applies: if you’re not buying a product, you are the product. In this case, it’s our attention and capitalizing on doing everything to keep it.
I’ve spent the last year as a Product Manager working on optimizing Ads, and one thing remains clearer than ever: the window in which we have to capture interest continues to narrow. Studies have shown that most users decide within about 1 second whether or not to engage with short form content as they scroll. Given the split moment of this reality, it means that the decision is almost subconscious. We process a variety of signals before our rational mind even engages, including immediate value, relatability, and emotionally or visually stimulating cues.
Given the decreased attention span and instantaneous expectations, this means organizations will need to continue increasing the gamification of engagement. Capitalizing on all these cues at a quicker pace to keep us from taking our eyes off the screen. Think of the way that chatbots now structure queries to responses with an ending question or suggestion, in order to continue engagement, or social media algorithms that are designed to predict your next thought and serve it to you in a form of engaging content. But companies understand this, and systems are designed to sustain engagement. As a result, we’ll continue to see a stealthy play on emotions, as opposed to logic, to capture and hold human attention.
And on the opposing end of “going back to the basics”, companies will do everything in their power to prevent this. So perhaps there isn’t an escape, at least not an easy one that is driven by an immense amount of willpower. Given this “difficulty” of a true digital escape, something that is within our control is shifting away from being chronically online.
It’s evident that dopamine overload and overstimulation have already led to mental burnout, with a recent survey reporting that about 50% of Americans are making an active effort to be less online. The FT also reported that time on social media peaked in 2022, and average daily time spent on social platforms has since fallen by almost 10%. This implies we’ll see a reversion back to physical uses of time, including a rise in hobbies, activities that bring out our inner child, and physical experiences that allow us to disconnect from the digital world we’ve become so ingrained in.
The brands that win in this divergence will be the ones that embrace shifting mentalities by truly knowing their audience. There will continue to be a subset of us who actively choose to maximize our time online more thoughtfully, and organizations must create products that fuel this. Duolingo has embraced the reality of shorter attention spans by capitalizing on our phone addictions, turning learning a new language into something engaging and fun, rather than asking for deeper focus. Their “streak” reward system mirrors what Snap pioneered in keeping users engaged and returning.
On the flip side, those most fatigued by screen time will turn toward hobbies and more physical experiences. It’s up to companies to recognize how these trends are evolving and grow alongside their consumers’ mentality and state of being. Aesop is a strong example of a brand that leans into sensory experiences that slow down time, such as its in store rituals to feel, test, and engage. While they market heavily online, they do so in a way that drives people into physical spaces to experience the product, rather than operating as a purely digital brand.
So in a world where attention is compressed and instinct replaces analysis, the brands that win will be the ones that are felt before they are understood.