How long do you think you can focus on one thing before your mind begins to wander?  In the 1970s, it was 12 minutes … in 2000, it was 12 seconds … and in 2024, a study found that the attention span of an average human adult was 8.25 seconds. 

Random other things constantly enter our thoughts.  For adults, this could be the perpetual question of “what’s for dinner”.  For a kid, it might be anything from “this is boring… I want to play that board game instead” to “did you see that moving out the window”.  Whatever it may be that distracts us, it would be great to be able to develop better ways to harness our attention.  But is this even possible? 

 Attention, Focus & Concentration 

To be attentive is more than just being present in the moment, it is also about absorbing, processing and making meaning from what you are seeing, hearing, learning about or producing.  On average, research shows that our minds have the capacity to maintain focused, controlled attention on a single topic for a maximum of 20-30 minutes. Although sometimes, this skill is hard to unlock. 

As a child gets older, attention span and the ability to concentrate increase as their experiences and brain capacity grow too.  For example, an infant’s capacity for sustained attention is significantly less than that of a teenager – 4-6 minutes for a two-year-old in comparison to 32-48 minutes for a sixteen-year-old.

There are several factors that build or impact our ability to concentrate: 

• Life experience 
• Age & cognitive development 
• Learnt expectations 
• Sleep 
• Diet 
• Screen exposure 
• The environment 
• Understanding or care factor for the topic at hand 

Naturally, our ability to focus wavers.  We can all agree that when we are presented with a topic of interest, we can go on for ages.  If you like sports, you will likely be able to stay on the one topic of NRL: eyes fixed to the television watching for the 80-minute game.  Next show comes on and it’s not your cup of tea, so you turn down the volume, go to the fridge and carry on conversing about the game with your mates beside you, without any attention for the programme in the background.  This is the same for kids – e.g. if a subject at school is ‘boring’, they are less likely to maintain focus on the information. 

Focus = the ability to control and sustain your attention solely on information relevant to the current topic/task without the interruption of other things entering your mental brain space.  But even when it’s something we are interested in, our minds can feel like they can only take so much of one thing. 

The Impacts of Losing Concentration 

At school, a child who cannot focus for extended periods can miss out on: 

• listening to the teacher’s instructions 
• following along to new concepts being taught 
• understanding basic rules and learning principles 
• tips and strategies to build upon essential skills 
• grasping multi-step methods to solving problems 
• reaching their full academic potential 

This can apply to team sports, socialisation or life skills where controlled attention is important to engaging with and learning such foundational skills. 

As adults in the workforce, a lack of focus can affect you from reaching your full potential in: 

• putting together a presentation 
• writing a report 
• recalling the important details from a phone call 
• professional development opportunities 
• on-the-job learning 
• blocking out distractions in a shared working space 

Improving Attention – Interactive Metronome® 

The ability to concentrate is important, but how can we train our minds to focus?  Thankfully, our brains are like muscles: the more we exercise a skill, the better we get at doing it! 

One such way is by using Interactive Metronome® (IM).  This computer-based programme exercises neural networks associated with controlled attention and executive function (among other cognitive processing skills).  Training on IM gradually exercises focus specifically to the metronome sound and the ability to avoid distractions through cerebral processing techniques.  Real-time feedback provided in the auditory and visual components of the programme teaches the brain to block out external distractions and prevent the mind from wandering. 

Tasks can be set to match the current capacities of the user and then adjusted to challenge their evolving skills of controlled attentiveness.  Occupational therapists can get creative with different activities or include different distractions that the brain needs to ignore to maintain focus on the tasks.  With time and continuous motivated practice, the programme will extend the user’s ability to sustain focus and concentrate. Additional benefits may include improvements in various areas of cognitive functioning such as working memory, auditory processing, cognitive performance, and organisational skills.

To answer our earlier questions: yes, there are ways that we can improve your or your children’s attention. 

At Family Connections, we offer Interactive Metronome® and other strategies to help improve attention, focus & concentration for children and young people.  To learn more, click here – or contact us! 

Author: Alyssa Hawkins – Occupational Therapist