Cambridge ThinkLab: The Science of Our Attention Spans with Professor Gloria Mark

We spend an average of just 47 seconds on any screen before shifting our attention. It takes 25 minutes to bring our attention back to a task after an interruption. And we interrupt ourselves more than we're interrupted by others.

In her newly published book, Attention Span, Professor Gloria Mark shows how much of what we think we know about attention is wrong. She explores the current crisis of focus and productivity that is so deeply entwined with rising rates of anxiety and depression, and investigates what we might be able to do about it. Delving into the newly celebrated concept of ‘kinetic attention’, she introduces a more balanced understanding of the rhythm between deep focus and less focused states, which may actually serve to make us happier and more productive in the long term.

This event is hosted by the University of Cambridge ThinkLab and Gloria will be joined by ThinkLab Manager Tyler Shores. This will be an interactive event and there will be time for questions and answers.

About The Speaker:

Dr Gloria Mark is Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and a leader in the fields of attention, multitasking and human–computer interactions. She is a two-time recipient of the Google Research Award and has conducted some of the world’s most detailed on-site research in the workplace, using a range of sensors, biosensors, and other measures to track employee behaviour to measure focus, stress, and computer activity. Her primary research interest is in understanding the impact of digital media on people's lives and she is best known for her work in studying people's multitasking, mood and behaviour while using digital media in real world environments. Popular accounts of Dr. Mark’s work have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, Quartz, TIME, BBC News and NPR, and she is also the author of Multitasking in the Digital Age (2015).