Have you ever found yourself scrolling through your phone, only to forget what you were looking for? Or tried to read an article, but your mind keeps wandering? You’re not alone. The average human attention span has dwindled to a mere 8.25 seconds. That’s shorter than the attention span of a goldfish, which clocks in at nine seconds.

This isn't just a feeling; it's a measurable shift. A landmark study from Microsoft found that back in the year 2000, we could hold our focus for about 12 seconds. The rise of the mobile internet and always-on devices has fundamentally changed how we process information. The impact is even more stark when looking at our screens.

According to research by Dr. Gloria Mark, a leading expert in attention, the average time we spend on any single screen before switching has plummeted from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds today.

A new national survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center sheds more light on why we’re so distracted. The study found that stress and anxiety are the biggest thieves of our attention. Following closely behind are lack of sleep and the constant presence of our digital devices.

The popular idea of "multitasking" is largely a myth. Dr. Mark's research shows that we aren't actually doing two things at once but are instead switching between tasks rapidly. This cognitive juggling comes at a high cost. It takes an average of 25 minutes to fully return to a task after being interrupted, leading to reduced productivity and increased stress.

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"Often when patients come to see me, they're worried about their ability to focus, and there's a good chance that it ends up being because they're so stressed out or they're anxious," explains Dr. Evita Singh, a psychiatrist at Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. This constant mental exhaustion can drain our enjoyment of life and pave the way for depression and anxiety.

It's also important to remember that our ability to focus naturally changes throughout our lives. For young children, a good rule of thumb is that their attention span is about two to three minutes per year of their age.

 A teenager, on the other hand, might be able to focus on an engaging task for 30 to 45 minutes. It's not a simple story of decline, but a complex interplay between our age and our increasingly distracting environment.

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So, how can we reclaim our focus in a world designed for distraction? Dr. Singh offers a simple yet powerful tool called "Take Five."

The idea is straightforward. First, Take frequent breaks from your task. Actively engage with the one thing you are doing. Keep distractions, like your phone, to a minimum. Eliminate the urge to multitask. And finally, take Five minutes to reset your mind, perhaps with a short walk or a moment of mindfulness.

It's a reminder that we need to be intentional about where we place our attention. Recognizing that we can't be perfectly focused all the time is also crucial. "Being able to recognize that while also giving grace to ourselves that we don't need to be ‘on’ and focusing 100% of the time is also really important," advises Dr. Singh. By understanding the forces pulling at our attention, we can take small, deliberate steps to get it back.

This story is based on findings from a national survey by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and research from sources including Microsoft and Dr. Gloria Mark, University of California, Irvine.