Focus and Attention Span Test

What This Focus Test Measures

This focus and attention span test, the Digital Distraction Test, asks 12 yes-or-no questions about how your phone and other devices pull at your attention. It doesn't time you or test your memory the way a lab task would. It looks at habits instead: how often a screen interrupts what you're doing, and how hard it is to set it down.

The questions cover:

• Time that slips away: spending more time on your devices than you realize, and more each month.
• Mindless checking: staring at a screen to pass time when there are better things to do.
• Interruptions: answering texts and emails at all hours, even when it means breaking off from something else.
• Risky multitasking: texting, emailing or browsing while driving or doing anything else that needs your full attention.
• Phones in personal moments: at the dinner table, next to the bed at night, chosen over people nearby.
• Unease without your phone: feeling uncomfortable when it's left behind, even briefly.
• The cost: whether you feel technology lowers your productivity, and whether you secretly wish you were less wired.

It's a screening for distraction habits, not a diagnosis of any attention condition.

How to Read Your Score

Your score is the number of questions you answered yes. Your result page places it in one of four ranges.

One question deserves attention whatever your total: if you text or browse while driving, change that first. It's the habit on this list most likely to hurt someone.

What Research Says About Attention Spans

The best-known research on screen attention comes from Gloria Mark, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine, who has studied how office workers move between tasks since the early 2000s.

• In 2004, researchers who shadowed 14 workers with stopwatches found they spent about three minutes on an activity before switching, and a little over two minutes on any one device or document.^[6]
• In 2016, software that logged 40 workers' computers for about 12 days found they stayed on one screen for an average of 47 seconds, with a median of 40, and switched between applications about 270 times a day.^[1]

Those studies used different people and different methods, so they don't show attention shrinking by a set amount. They do show how often screens pull people from one thing to the next. And they measure habits at work, not how long anyone can focus when they choose to.

The often-repeated claim that people now have an eight-second attention span, shorter than a goldfish's, traces to a 2015 Microsoft Canada marketing report that credited the figure to a website. Microsoft's own research didn't measure it, and no peer-reviewed study supports it.^[4]

Why Phones Pull Attention So Hard

• Notifications interrupt even when you ignore them. In a 2015 experiment, people who received phone notifications during an attention task performed worse even though they didn't answer, about as much as people who used their phones.^[3]
• Interruptions raise stress. In a lab study, people who were interrupted while writing emails finished faster, with no loss of quality, but reported more stress, frustration, time pressure and effort.^[7]
• Getting back takes time. In a study that shadowed 24 office workers, 57% of their work was interrupted. Work picked back up the same day took an average of about 25 minutes to return to, usually after two other tasks in between.^[2]
• Having a phone nearby may matter, but the evidence is mixed. A widely cited 2017 study found that students with their phone on the desk scored slightly lower on tests of working memory and reasoning than students whose phone was in another room.^[8] A later attempt to repeat the study didn't find the effect, and a review of 56 studies found at most a small effect on working memory.^[9][10]

Is This an ADHD Test?

No. This test looks at distraction habits around devices. ADHD is diagnosed by a clinician, such as a mental health professional or a primary care provider, and there's no single test for it.^[11] In adults, the symptoms have to have started before age 12.^[12] About 6.0% of US adults, roughly 15.5 million people, reported a current ADHD diagnosis in late 2023, and about half of them were diagnosed as adults.^[5]

If trouble focusing has been with you since childhood, shows up away from screens too, or gets in the way of work, school or relationships, it's worth raising with a doctor or a mental health professional.

How to Get Your Focus Back

Attention responds to your surroundings, which is good news: small changes to where your phone sits and when it can reach you make a real difference.

1. Silence notifications you don't need, and set downtime or do-not-disturb hours. Notifications can pull your attention even when you don't answer them.^[3][13]
2. Put your phone in another room for work that needs focus. It costs nothing, and some research suggests it helps.^[8]
3. Plan when you'll check messages and apps, such as at lunch or after dinner, instead of answering the moment something arrives.^[13]
4. Close email when you need to focus. In one study, workers who had email cut off stayed on each window for an average of about 132 seconds, up from about 76 seconds with email on.^[14]
5. Make driving phone-free. Turn on your phone's driving focus mode before you start the car.
6. Keep phones off the table at meals and out of the bedroom at night, two of the places this test asks about.
7. Find other ways to unwind, like music or reading, so a screen isn't the only break you take.^[13]

Brain Rot, Doomscrolling and Focus

If your answers point to long stretches of scrolling short videos rather than constant interruptions, try the Brain Rot Test as well. It looks at short-form video, endless feeds and the foggy feeling that can follow them. For a step-by-step plan, see how to stop doomscrolling.

When to Get Help

Talk to a professional if your score is high, if distraction is hurting your work, school or relationships, or if trouble focusing has been with you for a long time and shows up away from screens too. You can search for therapists who treat technology and behavioral addiction by state in the therapist directory, or see all your options on the get help page.

If you're in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988, any time of day.^[15]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a normal attention span?

There's no single number. Attention depends on the task, how interesting it is and what's competing with it. Studies of office workers have found people switching screens about every 47 seconds on average, but that measures habits at work, not how long someone can focus when they choose to.^[1]

Is the 8-second attention span real?

No. The claim that people now have an eight-second attention span, shorter than a goldfish's, comes from a 2015 Microsoft Canada marketing report that credited the figure to a website. No peer-reviewed research supports it.^[4]

Is this an ADHD test?

No. It looks at distraction habits around devices. ADHD is diagnosed by a clinician, and there's no single test for it.^[11] If trouble focusing has lasted since childhood or affects your work, school or relationships, talk to a doctor.

Can you improve your attention span?

Your focus responds to your surroundings. Silencing notifications, keeping your phone out of reach during focused work and checking messages at set times all cut down on the interruptions that break attention.^[3][13]

How is this different from the Brain Rot Test?

This test looks at everyday distraction: interruptions, multitasking and phones at meals, at night and behind the wheel. The Brain Rot Test focuses on scrolling short videos and endless feeds. Taking both gives a fuller picture.

How long does the focus test take?

There are 12 yes-or-no questions, so most people finish in about two minutes. You'll see your result as soon as you finish, and a copy goes to your inbox.

What should I do if I score high?

Start with the steps in this guide, especially making driving phone-free and silencing the notifications you don't need. Consider talking with a professional if distraction is hurting your work, school or relationships. If you're in crisis, call or text 988.^[15]

Related Guides

• Brain Rot Test
• How to stop doomscrolling
• Internet and Technology Addiction Test
• Phone Addiction Test
• How to run a digital detox that holds

Sources

1. Mark, G., Iqbal, S. T., Czerwinski, M., Johns, P., & Sano, A. (2016). Neurotics can't focus: An in situ study of online multitasking in the workplace. Proceedings of CHI 2016, 1739-1744.
2. Mark, G., González, V. M., & Harris, J. (2005). No task left behind? Examining the nature of fragmented work. Proceedings of CHI 2005, 321-330.
3. Stothart, C., Mitchum, A., & Yehnert, C. (2015). The attentional cost of receiving a cell phone notification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(4), 893-897.
4. Microsoft Canada. (2015). Attention spans. Consumer insights report.
5. Staley, B. S., Robinson, L. R., Claussen, A. H., Katz, S. M., Danielson, M. L., Summers, A. D., Farr, S. L., Blumberg, S. J., & Tinker, S. C. (2024). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis, treatment, and telehealth use in adults: National Center for Health Statistics Rapid Surveys System, United States, October-November 2023. MMWR, 73(40), 890-895.
6. González, V. M., & Mark, G. (2004). "Constant, constant, multi-tasking craziness": Managing multiple working spheres. Proceedings of CHI 2004, 113-120.
7. Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress. Proceedings of CHI 2008, 107-110.
8. Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: The mere presence of one's own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 140-154.
9. Ruiz Pardo, A. C., & Minda, J. P. (2022). Reexamining the "brain drain" effect: A replication of Ward et al. (2017). Acta Psychologica, 230, 103717.
10. Parry, D. A. (2024). Does the mere presence of a smartphone impact cognitive performance? A meta-analysis of the "brain drain effect." Media Psychology, 27(5), 737-762.
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Diagnosing ADHD.
12. National Institute of Mental Health. (2024). ADHD in adults: 4 things to know.
13. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2026). Understanding the new AAP digital media guidelines for screen time and social media.
14. Mark, G., Voida, S., & Cardello, A. (2012). "A pace not dictated by electrons": An empirical study of work without email. Proceedings of CHI 2012, 555-564.
15. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. (n.d.). 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.