Attention Fragmentation

The fragmentation of content into smaller bits, consumed rapidly and frequently, has both been driven by and is causing further shifts in cognitive patterns, toward shorter attention spans.

A book cover of The Shallows by Nicolas Carr

In his 2010 book The Shallows, author Nicolas Carr contends that current information and content consumption habits are having negative impacts on the human brain, potentially rewiring cognitive processes and limiting so-called “deep engagement” with information.

“Snacking” is the term most used today to describe the media and information consumption patterns of average Internet users, spreading time across multiple media, often at the same time. While the hyper-connected Web established this behavior with the digital generation, the advent of smartphones, bringing instant delivery of mobile media and messaging to almost any location, has exacerbated this fragmentation of attention, leading us to fill any empty moment with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, e-mail, text messaging, casual games and dozens of other distractions.

Signals:

Multitasking on digital media is on the rise. Data from 2009 suggested that over 80% of US Internet users in a survey were also consuming some other form of media at the same time they were online. Almost two-thirds of respondents to the Burst Media study were watching TV while surfing the Web.
The average US teen between 13 and 17 sends and receives over 3,000 texts per month, according to Nielsen data.
Globally, average time spent per month by Internet users on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks topped five hours per day at the end of 2009.
Time spent viewing video on mobile devices, typically on the move, rose 600% between 2009 and 2010, according to ComScore data.

Implications:

Traditional media consumption behaviors that have driven television, newspaper and radio advertising models for the past 50 years are fragmenting along with attention, disrupting advertisers’ and media companies’ abilities to develop consistent revenue models that can predict behavior.
Content creation and production must take into account changes such as shorter formats, new forms of portability, cross-media connectivity with other forms of content and communication, time-shifting and place-shifting.
Consumers may begin to “burn out” on fragmented media consumption and cut back time spent on digital media. Already academics and psychologists are beginning to track forms of Internet-driven burn out and dislocation thought to be driven by constant connectedness and the stress of keeping up with so many available media and information sources.

Countertrends:

A small number of consumers are reporting cutting back on connection time as a response to this fragmentation.
Local and national authorities in some areas are implementing bans on mobile phone use, including bans on texting while driving, in response to the impact of fragmented attention in causing accidents.

Extrapolations:

Content may continue to be broken down into micro-episodes and other very small packages to be delivered on any screen at any time, intended to follow continuously shifting consumption.
New forms of media tracking and consumption measurement may be developed, including forms of neurological and biometric measurement that directly track users’ behavior and reactions.