Social media and online communication have become such an integral part of our everyday lives that we have accepted its downsides as a part of reality. While offering many benefits such as efficient communication, it can yield higher stress levels, shorter attention spans, and decreased productivity as outlined by Dr. Gloria Mark from the University of California, Irvine.
Notably, since 2004, people’s average attention spans have dropped from 150 seconds to 47 seconds, which is correlated with a rise in technologies that increase our ability to multitask. This means that regions of the brain that are important for decision-making and focus are heavily influenced by the constant distractions of today’s technologies. This is of particular concern for young children, Mark warns, since their brains are not yet fully developed. To mitigate the potential adverse effects on attention span when they grow up, Mark advises parents to limit screen time and encourage off-screen tasks such as reading or playing board games instead.
Apart from attention span and neurological development, social media can make us less productive by breaking up one’s focus and disrupting normal flows of concentration. A phenomenon known as “switch cost” occurs when an individual jumps from one task to the next, referring to the time it takes to familiarize oneself with the new activity.
Switching focus between tasks disrupts focus and requires additional time to reacclimate
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For adults, Mark recommends they take time to assess what their optimal time length is to remain focused without being burnt out. Self-regulation methods such as the Pomodoro method (when one spends 25 minutes on a task, then takes a 5-minute break) may be advantageous to those with significant trouble self-regulating amidst online distractions, yet could be detrimental to others who could experience burnout or the effects of “switch cost” if their ideal time to focus differs from the standard amount.
Additionally, sleep debt plays a large role in decreased attention span, as adults who are not getting as much sleep as they need have consistently shorter time frames in which they can focus. Mark advises that we become conscious of how much sleep we are getting when we feel we are most productive and should find natural pauses in activities that help limit the effect of “switch cost” to minimize the adverse effects of social media.
To mitigate this impact on a constitutional level, Mark recommends that companies and nations should begin to enact more “Right to Disconnect” laws, ensuring that employees cannot be punished for failing to respond to work-related messages outside of working hours. As a small workplace adjustment, she also advises companies to dedicate periods during the day when online communication is halted so that employees can catch up on their own work and personal tasks without distraction. Although social media may have detrimental effects on one’s mental health and productivity, there are active steps that we can take in our personal and professional lives to maximize its benefits and adapt to its necessity in today’s online world.
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