Average Human Attention Span By Age: 31 Statistics

What Is The Average Attention Span?

The average attention span is 8.25 seconds. It can vary among individuals and can be affected by various factors such as age, environment, and type of activity.

Average Human Attention Span Statistics

1. The average human attention span is 8.25 seconds.
2. Attention spans can range from 2 seconds to over 20 minutes.
3. The average human attention span decreased by almost 25% from 2000 to 2015.
4. Humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish (9 seconds).
5. When we don't get enough sleep, our brains don't have enough time to complete these important tasks.
6. An individual's attention span varies depending on their age, with younger people usually having longer attention spans.
7. Women usually have longer attention spans than men.
8. Your attention span can also be affected by how emotionally engaged you're in a task.
9. 1 in 4 teens forget important information about their close family and friends.
10. Almost 1 in 10 people forget their own birthday from time to time.
11. Almost 40% of Americans have forgotten one simple piece of information, and some have even lost one item they use on a daily basis in the last week.
12. Attention span can be improved through various methods, such as mindfulness and meditation.
13. The average person spends 2.7 minutes watching a video on the internet.
14. The average audience attention span is only 8 to 10 minutes, which means you should keep your speeches short and engaging to hold your audience's attention.
15. Paying attention is a key skill for learning, but children with autism struggle to stay focused.

Average Attention Span By Age Infographic

Average Attention Span Of An Adult

The average adult internet user's attention span is 8.25 seconds. With more distractions than ever before on the internet, social media, and our environment, most people are not able to focus for longer periods of time.

Some estimates show the attention span of some adults can go be up to 5 to 6 hours. However, most adults have very short attention spans and are not able to concentrate for that much time.

Average Child Attention Spans By Age

Childhood development experts typically say that a child's attention span is two to three minutes per year of their age, on average. But how long is a child's attention span? The chart below will show you:

Below are the average attention spans per age before 18 years old:

• 2 years old: 4 to 6 minutes
• 4 years old: 8 to 12 minutes
• 6 years old: 12 to 18 minutes
• 8 years old: 16 to 24 minutes
• 10 years old: 20 to 30 minutes
• 12 years old: 24 to 36 minutes
• 14 years old: 28 to 42 minutes
• 16 years old: 32 to 48 minutes

Average Teenager Attention Span

The average 14 year old teenager has a 28 to 42 minute attention span, and the average 16 year old teenager has a 32 to 48 minute attention span. This trend might indicate that our attention spans increase as we get older.

So, What's The Average Attention Span?

The average human has an attention span of just 8.25 seconds, and there's likely many reasons why. From technology, to constant distractions, humankind needs to find ways to be able to focus on a task for longer periods of time.