Nonetheless studying? Congratulations, you’ve already outlasted the common consideration span of a social media consumer. Three seconds: that’s how lengthy it takes us to determine whether or not to stay or scroll.
However regardless of what you’ve heard, our consideration spans aren’t getting shorter – they’re slightly below siege. And that distinction is important for each property agent vying for his or her viewers’s consideration, whether or not on social media, by means of unsolicited mail campaigns, or in every other type of advertising.
The reality beneath the noise
Over the previous two years, a wave of analysis has challenged the “shrinking span” story. A 2024 research of 150 college college students, for instance, discovered that those that watched extra short-form movies on TikTok and Instagram did carry out worse on consideration checks and earned decrease grades. One other crew used EEG scans to indicate that heavy short-video customers displayed weaker prefrontal-cortex exercise – the a part of the mind chargeable for focus and management.
So, sure – there’s clear proof that the fixed flicker of short-form content material can fragment our consideration within the second. However that’s solely half the story.
A bigger literature overview printed in 2025 concluded that whereas social media use is linked to decreased sustained consideration, the results are sometimes small, short-lived, and extremely variable between individuals. Crucially, no main research has but proven that our baseline means to focus is definitely declining. In different phrases, digital distractions make us briefly scatterbrained, however they don’t essentially rewire us into goldfish.
The truth is, the analysis means that the alternative could be occurring. We’re adapting to an surroundings of infinite noise by creating sharper filters. We skim, scan, and swap sooner than ever – not as a result of we will’t focus, however as a result of we’ve realized to determine extra rapidly what deserves our focus.
Focus in a world of friction
One of many extra putting experiments, printed earlier this 12 months, requested members to carry out focus duties with their telephones both on the desk or out of sight. Even when the telephones have been silenced and unused, efficiency dropped measurably just by their presence. One other research went additional: for 2 weeks, some members had all cellular web blocked on their telephones. Their consideration scores and temper improved dramatically.
So sure, the environment is working in opposition to us. We’re surrounded by gadgets that always name to us, like sirens on the rocks. However the analysis doesn’t present a species in decline – it exhibits a species below siege. And when one thing genuinely cuts by means of that noise, we nonetheless have the capability to provide it our full and undivided consideration.
Take into consideration the final time you fell down a YouTube rabbit gap, binged a sequence, or learn a whole long-form article in your telephone. When one thing grips us, we don’t flit away after a couple of seconds – we dig in. The issue isn’t quick consideration; it’s an abundance of distraction.
The lesson for property brokers
For entrepreneurs (and particularly property brokers) this needs to be encouraging. It means your viewers isn’t damaged, they’re simply picky. They will nonetheless give deep, sustained consideration; they only reserve it for issues that earn it.
An excessive amount of property advertising assumes the alternative. We lower each message to fifteen seconds, fearing individuals gained’t keep. We strip away storytelling as a result of “nobody reads anymore.” We produce protected, forgettable content material within the title of brevity – after which surprise why it fails to attach.
The science tells us that focus isn’t shrinking; it’s being rationed. So the duty isn’t to struggle for longer consideration – it’s to deserve the eye we get. Meaning opening with one thing that genuinely arrests curiosity, not one other “We’re delighted to announce…” It means layering depth beneath brevity – rewarding those that stick with wealthy, invaluable data. And it means leaning on the oldest focusing instrument in human historical past: story.
A well-told story a few dwelling, a shopper, and even breaking information attracts the attention and stills the noise in a method no algorithmic caption can.
Consideration is the brand new belief
When somebody really pays consideration to your enterprise, it’s a present – one earned by means of relevance, originality, and emotional connection. That’s why analysis carried out in 2023 by Paul Dyson discovered that creativity in advertising is the largest profitability multiplier inside our management.
Our collective focus isn’t fading away – it’s evolving. The human mind nonetheless likes to be taught, hear, and linger. We’ve simply raised the usual for what’s price lingering on.
So don’t mourn the dying of consideration. Recognise it for what it’s: a treasured forex in an overcrowded market. In order for you extra of it, cease chasing treasured seconds — and begin creating one thing price spending them on.
Toby Martin is chief content material officer at We Are Unchained.
