The Eight-Second Attention Span is a new column in The New York Times, written by Timothy Egan.
Here’s an excerpt:
He goes on to suggest that gardening and reading might be two ways to increase our attention spans.
I plan on having students read it and then respond to this writing prompt:
What does Timothy Egan say has happened to our attention spans, and what does he suggest we do about it? Do you agree with him? To support your opinion, be sure to include specific examples drawn from your own experience, your observations of others, or any of your readings (including this column).
I’m adding this post to The Best Posts On Writing Instruction.
Actually, Timothy is wrong. If he had read the report he would – probably – have known that it’s all about the time one decides if something is relevant or not. Once decided it’s relevant, we can put a give attention for a way longer time than 8 seconds.