Goldfish Now Have Better Attention Spans Than We Do

　　人类注意力比金鱼还差

　　Last week, Microsoft released a study that sought to analyze the impact that technology – cellphones and social media specifically – is having on our attention span and the quality of our focus. They found some pretty significant changes compared with research conducted 15 years ago. Let's take a look at the findings

　　上周，微软公司就现代科技——手机和社交媒体对我们注意力时长和质量的影响做了一项调查。研究发现，与15年前做的调查相比，有了很大的改变。让我们来看看调查结果。

　　人类注意力比金鱼还差

　　1. The average attention span has fallen to just eight seconds.

　　1.平均注意力时长降到了8秒

　　The average human attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds, and now it's just eight. The decrease was found across genders and all age groups. Apparently, a goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds. Measuring the attention span of animals is sort of tricky stuff though … so it's possible we still have them beat.

　　2000年人类平均注意力时长为12秒，现在只有8秒。各个年龄段的注意力时长都有下降。连一条金鱼的注意力时长都有9秒。不过研究动物时会有其他不确定因素，所以也许我们仍领先。。。

　　2. Young people were most likely to demonstrate addiction-like behaviors when it came to digital technology.

　　2.年轻人更容易痴迷科技产品

　　Seventy-seven percent of 18- to 24-year-olds responded "yes" when asked if the following statement was true for them: "When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone." Only 10 percent of people over 65 said the same thing.

　　当问及以下问题是，18到24年龄段的青年中有77%人回答“是的”。这些问题是：“如果眼前没什么可做的，我会想到第一件事就是看手机。”而65岁以上人群中仅有10%会这么做。

　　3. Young people may be more alert, just for shorter increments of time.

　　3.相对下降的注意力，年轻人更灵敏

　　The good news is that these young people, "early adopters of technology," as the study sometimes refers to them, have developed some strengths to accommodate for their shorter attention spans.

　　好消息是这项研究提到，那些走在科技前沿的年轻人已经进化出其他能力来弥补较短的注意力时长。

　　4. The ability to multitask has improved.

　　4.同时处理多重事件的能力有改变

　　Part of the explanation for the shortened attention span comes from what the study refers to as "multi-screening" – viewing multiple screens at once, using social media while consuming the latest news, etc. As long as the environment is active, early tech adopters are able to process information and commit it to memory more efficiently. But, their capabilities fall short if the digital experience is passive – probably due to their decreased ability to focus for long periods of time.

　　变短的注意力时长有些方面也可归因为“多屏”处理能力，即人们可以同时注视多个屏幕，比如看新闻的时候使用社交应用，等等。在主动环境下，使用科技产品的老手可以更有效的处理信息并把信息储存在记忆里。但是，如果是被动的，这些能力很可能会因为他们下降的注意力时长而减弱。

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