Brain Rot, Attention Spans … and You

Our minds are more in control than we realize...

Issue 190, December 12, 2024

If you are anything like us, reading that Oxford University identified “brain rot” as the word of the year, we took a pause to consider the implications. Then of course, we felt compelled to weigh in given its correlation to managing change and transformation as well as understanding a market, customers and a workforce.

We have been reeling toward shorter attention spans, higher levels of distraction, an explosion of clinically diagnosed anxiety and depression and an inability to focus effectively. This has become a huge problem for educators; when your students have an average attention span of 8 seconds, it’s a challenge to pack in ancient history, algebraic equations, and a book report on Catcher in the Rye. It is also a likely overlooked problem for leaders and managers seeking to motivate individuals to a shared purpose within an organization.

Time Stamped: The 8-Second Window

Naresh Sekar writes for Medium that the 8-second rule states that “extreme disc…