“We would record the start time and the stop time!” she explains.
“So you‘re on a screen where you’re working in a Word doc. As soon as you get to that screen! we click start time. As soon as they turned away and checked the email! we clicked stop time for the Word document and start time for the email!” Mark adds.
Over time! logging techniques became more sophisticated as technology advanced! and it only made the pattern of shrinking attention spans clearer.
“Back in 2004! we found the average attention span on any screen to be two and a half minutes on average!” Dr. Mark recalls during the interview. “Throughout the years! it became shorter. So around 2012! we found it to be 75 seconds.”
Dr. Mark says the number continued to dip as the years went on.
“And then in the last five! six years! we found it to average about 47 seconds — and others have replicated this result within a few seconds. So it seems to be quite robust!” she says.
And this trend of dwindling attention spans is affecting how we consume content. And I’m not just talking about social media videos — even television and film shots are getting more brief! according to Dr. Mark.
They now average about four seconds a shot length!” she says. “If you watch MTV music videos! they‘re much shorter. They’re only a couple of seconds. So we’ve become accustomed to seeing very fast shot lengths when we watch TV and film.”
Dr. Mark explains during the interview that it‘s a chicken vs. egg situation — she’s unsure which came first or what’s influencing the other.
However! the fact remains that we‘re becoming more accustomed to shorter bursts of content! and it’s bleeding into the kind of content we consume and what’s being created.
Studies found that most consumers belgium telegram data will only watch an entire video if it’s less than 60 seconds long. Then you have apps like TikTok! YouTube Shorts! and Instagram Reels that push short-form videos to users in an infinite scroll format.
Short-form content is perfect to consume on the go.
Most of us do most of our online scrolling and shopping on our cell phones.
Watching long videos on tiny screens isn’t usually what we want.
But short videos are easy to watch whenever you have a few minutes! whether you’re doomscrolling on the couch at night or have a few minutes while you wait for your kids to get out of school or their activity.
I’ve often found myself in the swim practice pick-up line catching up on my favorite creators! like Under the Desk News and The Daily Show! and anything else the algorithm brings me.
In my experience on-the-go watching is even easier with apps like TikTok and Instagram! which are designed specifically for mobile experiences.
Short-form videos appeal to emotion and curiosity.
Short-form videos are great at grabbing attention quickly. More on that in #5 below. However! in a nutshell! if you’re aiming for a cold 7 reasons why it’s important to support local businesses audience that doesn’t have much awareness of your brand or products! you’re more likely to capture them and draw them in.
When you can get people curious or to feel some kind of way! they’re more likely to stick around and ask for (scroll for) more.
Sometimes! it’s humor! like this Steve Carell clip from The Daily Show:
Other times! it’s something that tugs at the heartstrings more.
Short-form videos are easy to share socially.
How many times have you watched phone number thailand a Reel on Facebook or Instagram and immediately shared it on Messenger with your friends?
Here’s one that has made the rounds in my circles.
This is me raising my hand. I send LOTS of them out. My husband and I exchange recipes and things that make us laugh. This Korean Beef Meal Prep idea has me salivating.