Attention Span Quotes

One of the most important lessons, perhaps, is the fact that SOFTWARE IS HARD. From now on I shall have significantly greater respect for every successful software tool that I encounter. During the past decade I was surprised to learn that the writing of programs for TeX and Metafont proved to be much more difficult than all the other things I had done (like proving theorems or writing books). The creation of good software demand a significiantly higher standard of accuracy than those other things do, and it requires a longer attention span than other intellectual tasks. ~ Donald Knuth

Why do girls always fall for guys with the attention span of drosophila? ~ Rachel Cohn

Drosophila," I said, remembering the word.
"What?" Lily asked.
"Why do girls always fall for guys with the at ention span of drosophila?"
"What?"
"Fruit flies. Guys with the attention span of fruit flies."
"Because they're hot?"
"This," I told her, "is not the time for being truthful. ~ Rachel Cohn

I've got a very short attention span, and this has been part of the reason I'm so kind of dumbfounded at the fact that I've still stayed with music. Nothing has ever stuck for me, and music's the only thing that's managed to stick out for a long period of time. ~ Gin Wigmore

Of course, it would help if she could stay focused, but she had the attention span of a sick flea.' (Sunshine) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

We live in a society that is based on 30-second sound bites. We have
technology that puts all of the information of humankind at our fingertips,
but we have the attention span of a three-year-old at a carnival
midway on the Fourth of July. We throw around a lot of words like
democracy, federal, republic, nationalist, socialist, liberal, and right-wing - but
do we really know what they mean? ~ Ziad K. Abdelnour

He has the attention span of a hummingbird. ~ Christopher Moore

I've heard people say that [I have a short attention span]. I don't feel I do, because when I'm interested in something I'll stay in focus as long as it is necessary ... If you get off on something I'm not very interested in, it's very easy for me to block it out. It's easy for me to block things out. ~ Dan Quayle

I have an extraordinary attention span. I manage to juggle two or three different ideas at the same time, and that's probably, if I have a gift, that's probably the best gift that's given me. ~ Paul Newman

A lot of television tends to assume that audiences don't have the attention span or the IQ to follow a lot of stuff. ~ J. Michael Straczynski

I can sketch up a storm, and I'm very involved in how clothes are constructed, but I have a short attention span. ~ Michael Kors

Land of snap decisions, land of short attention spans, nothing is savored long enough to really understand. ~ Joni Mitchell

I get a little cranky with the whole business about kids not having attention spans. This reminds me of the usual business of thinking that the next generation is hopeless. Every generation has said that about every younger generation. ~ Robin McKinley

The habit of reading is absolutely critical today, particularly for Christians. As television turns our society into an increasingly image dominated culture, Christians must continue to be people of the Word. When we read, we cultivate a sustained attention span, an active imagination, a capacity for logical analysis and critical thinking, and a rich inner life. Each of these qualities, which have proven themselves the essential to a free people is under assault in a TV dominated culture. ~ Gene Edward Veith Jr.

Children from like 8 and even up to the college age - Spider-Man appeals to a fairly broad demographic but, like I said, a mean age probably of 12 is a good mark - they process information so quickly and it's not because of attention deficit or short attention span. ~ Thomas Haden Church

If you are heartbroken and can't face the world, you need something with a fantastic plot. You won't be able to read anything boring because your attention span when you are heartbroken decreases by three-quarters. ~ Isabel Gillies

If you come to any of my live shows, you'll see, it's very frenetic. I have the attention span of a gnat. ~ Howie Mandel

I'd have a longer attention span if there weren't so many shiny things. ~ Darynda Jones

Everyone's attention span is getting shorter. As a result, everything - films, music, art - gets watered down and dumber. Every now and again, you get something great, but not often. ~ Kelis

There were scenes that just for length purposes, and knowing that the attention span of kids is not great, don't make it much longer than about 90 minutes. ~ John Badham

I'm not a long movie person. I have a very short attention span. If you give me a 90-minute movie, that's perfect. When it gets to be two hours, that's a little bit too long for me. ~ Courteney Cox

The average human attention span was 12 seconds in 2000 and 8 seconds in 2013. A drop of 33%. The scary part is that the attention span of a goldfish was 9 seconds, almost 13% more than us humans. That's why it's getting tougher by the day to get people to turn the page. Maybe we writers ought to try writing for goldfish! ~ Ashwin Sanghi

The average buyer in bookshop spends 8 seconds on the front cover and 15 seconds on the back cover before deciding whether to purchase the book or not. On average, he does not get past page 18. See? The odds are stacked against us writers! ~ Ashwin Sanghi

I have the attention span of a mosquito from multitasking and all the things that have affected my poor little brain. ~ Ian Somerhalder

If we give priority to the outer life, our inner life will be dark and scary. We will not know what to do with solitude. We will be deeply uncomfortable with self-examination, and we will have an increasingly short attention span for any kind of reflection. Even more seriously, our lives will lack integrity. Outwardly, we will need to project confidence, spiritual and emotional health and wholeness, while inwardly we may be filled with self-doubts, anxieties, self-pity, and old grudges. ~ Timothy J. Keller

Daemon had not stayed.
My smile slipped from my face.
He was standing by the window, his back to me. "I got bored."
"I wasn't even gone five minutes."
"I have a short attention span. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

It all begins with someone giving you too much attention. Such attention-starved times we live in! ~ Nitya Prakash

Enough bickering, ladies," Zack said. "Let's - hey, is that blood?" He asked, pointing to my jeans. Attention span of a moth…

J.M. Friedman. Succubus in Seattle (Kindle Locations 382-383). ~ J.R. Thorn

If someone can watch an entire season of a TV series in one day, doesn't that show an incredible attention span? ~ Kevin Spacey

My laziness is really profound. I'm really interested in where it comes from - it almost feels chemical. And we've all got ADD now, short attention span and all that. ~ Hugh Grant

Imagine what our culture would be like if Americans sold ideas, words, and books with the same creativity we use to sell designer jeans, shampoo, and rock stars. Why, we might end up with people whos attention span for the printed word is longer than the time it takes to read a T-shirt. ~ Jim Trelease

Learning lines is hard for me because I have the attention span of a six year old. That's why being on planes all the time is so useful - I'm forced to learn out of boredom. ~ Eddie Redmayne

You and I and everyone else have the attention span of gnats. And that means that saying or doing anything once simply doesn't work. ~ Gene Simmons

There is an aversion to long chunks of sentences...The dire problem is that long chunks of sentences are still the best way humans have to express complex thoughts, intricate observations, fleeting emotions-the whole range of what we are...It is unclear whether the American attention span can support book reading for much longer... ~ Dick Meyer

I guess I have a short attention span! I'm interested in new worlds, new universes, new challenges. ~ Alfonso Cuaron

My attention span is very short. ~ Will.i.am

Newsmen have a very short attention span. It is a prerequisite in the business. That is why the news accounts of almost anything make sense to all ages up to the age of twelve. If one wishes to enjoy newspapers, it is wise to halt all intellectual development right at that age. The schools are doing their level best to achieve this goal. ~ John D. MacDonald

There were times in life when the aperture of your attention span narrowed to such a tight focus that your entire consciousness rested upon a single person. ~ J.R. Ward

The generation that had information, but no context. Butter, but no bread. Craving, but no longing. ~ Meg Wolitzer

There's no way you could last a sit-down with Luther. He'd end up exorcising you when you snapped."
"It could be entertaining," Neil said. "It could be," Andrew allowed.
"Let's all go," Neil said. "Aaron will agree for Nicky's sake and Nicky can see if his parents have come around. There's no way you'll let Kevin that far out of your sights, so take him with you. I'll tag along so you can harass me instead of Luther. Imagine how uncomfortable Nicky's parents will be if they have to contend with the five of us."
"Or we could stay here."
"Not as interesting," Neil said.
"Appealing to my nonexistent attention span is a cheap trick," Andrew said.
"But is it effective?"
"You wish it was."
"Please?"
"I hate that word."
"Does your shrink know you have a grudge against half of the English language?" Neil asked, but Andrew only grinned. ~ Nora Sakavic

For me, whether it's in a book or on T.V., a recipe has to be simple. I have a short attention span, so to open a cookbook and see a recipe that goes on for three to four pages, well, I've lost interest. ~ Al Roker

A woman's touch?!' he repeated, 'What is he thinking hermano?
Stukeley frowned. 'Captain doesn't know whether it's dinnertime or doomsday, mate. That's the state Lady Losckwood's got him in.We'be tried to talk some sense into him, but it just goes in one ear and out the other. IT's not as if he had much of an attention span to begin with, but since Lady Muck came on to the scene ... ~ Justin Somper

This poem is very long
So long, in fact, that your attention span
May be stretched to its very limits
But that's okay
It's what's so special about poetry
See, poetry takes time
We live in a time
Call it our culture or society
It doesn't matter to me cause neither one rhymes
A time where most people don't want to listen
Our throats wait like matchsticks waiting to catch fire
Waiting until we can speak
No patience to listen

But this poem is long
It's so long, in fact, that during the time of this poem
You could've done any number of other wonderful things
You could've called your father
Call your father
You could be writing a postcard right now
Write a postcard
When was the last time you wrote a postcard?
You could be outside
You're probably not too far away from a sunrise or a sunset
Watch the sun rise
Maybe you could've written your own poem
A better poem
You could have played a tune or sung a song
You could have met your neighbor
And memorized their name
Memorize the name of your neighbor
You could've drawn a picture
(Or, at least, colored one in)
You could've started a book
Or finished a prayer
You could've talked to God
Pray
When was the last time you prayed?
Really prayed?

This is a long poem
So long, in fact, that you've already spent a minute with it
When was th ~ Colleen Hoover

I see young people being dismissed for supposedly wanting only "stupid" and "easy" material, or that they don't have an attention span longer than three minutes. I disagree with all those statements; I just think they aren't true. I'm saying that our generation wants stuff that is substantial and challenging, as well as thoughtful and endearing. Well, I don't know if I'm doing that, but I'm trying. ~ Bo Burnham

I'm usually two projects ahead. It's hard for me because I don't have a really long attention span. ~ Joe Swanberg

The desire to do different things was the main motivator that made me leave late night because I'd been there seven years. The combination of an entrepreneurial desire to see how far I could push my success and a short attention span. But now I've done other things. And I'm sort of ready to sit somewhere and sit in the same place for a while. ~ Andy Richter

I didn't care for beat reporting, covering the same thing day after day - short attention span. ~ Charles Portis

The most dangerous thing about an academic education is that it enables my tendency to over-intellectualize stuff, to get lost in abstract thinking instead of simply paying attention to what's going on in front of me. ~ David Foster Wallace

I go through the text making sure I haven't used any big words. If I find any fancy adjectives have crept in, I replace them with small words like 'nice' and 'big'. I've liked these words ever since I was told not to use them in English class at school. After that, I check that the sentences are short so as people won't get confused and I shorten all the chapters so they won't get bored. I can't read anything complicated these days, my attention span is too short. Everyone else probably feels the same. ~ Martin Millar

Being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child's attention span. ~ Richard Louv

He has the attention span of a lightning bolt. ~ Robert Redford

My attention span is all over the place, and I overthink things. I'm an insomniac. ~ Selena Gomez

Of course that was before reality TV, Twitter, Twaddle, and the like managed to reduce the average attention span of most of the world's population to two minutes, wither our long-term memory to fourteen months, and convince us that the most admirable of all individuals are not the likes of George Washington, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Jonas Salk, Mother Teresa, and Nikola Tesla, but instead whatever celebrity just won Dancing with the Stars and whatever dancing cat just drew ten million hits for its YouTube video. ~ Dean Koontz

I don't go on the Internet. I never go on the Internet. I don't go on Twitter. I'm not on Facebook. I've seen friends go into dark, dark holes of sadness because of that. Frankly, I don't have the time or the attention span for it. ~ Amy Sherman-Palladino

I only took about five guitar lessons in my life from an actual teacher. I learned fast that that wasn't for me. I didn't have the attention span to learn that way. So I learned the basics from my dad, then just from playing on stage, and watching other guitar players. ~ Jason Aldean

The way the media cycle works, the way the news works, and the way people's attention span works, is that we only learn that people exist when there is crisis. ~ Edwidge Danticat

This is the great luxury of not working: the moment you read a book that has nothing to do with work, you know you're really relaxed. And I have a sh*t attention span. I can't concentrate for more than five minutes. ~ Eddie Redmayne

I've got the attention span of a child. ~ Ricky Gervais

She's always getting into trouble because she gets bored really really easily. [ ... ]
My mum says it's because Celia has an attention span the size of a sesame seed.
Celia's mum says it's because Celia's identity is unfurling itself slowly, like a tulip bud, and it's a breathtakingly beautiful thing to see. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I'm the perfect kind of personality for making YouTube videos. I deal in short attention span theater. I do wild things. ~ Steve-O

I think we have the attention span of a gnat. You know, with cell phones and Twitter. ~ Jeff Daniels

Doctor Nye," Clarabelle said.
The spider-like being turned to them. "Zombies," it said, mildly surprised. "And a blue-haired girl."
"My name is Clarabelle. I'm here looking for a job... I have no medical or scientific training to speak of, and no inclination to learn, and I pick up things fairly slowly because of my short attention span..."
"Clarabelle... Clarabelle... You worked as Kenspeckle Grouse's assistant, did you not?"
"One of them. He fired all the others."
"But not you?"
"He fired me on the second day, but I kept coming in. I had nowhere else to go."
"And then you killed him."
"Yes."
"A Remnant squirmed inside you, and you killed Kenspeckle Grouse."
"Yes."
It grinned. "You're hired. ~ Derek Landy

The imaginary child implied by the toys on exhibit in Hong Kong was impossible to reconcile with my actual child. I didn't think I'd like to meet the imaginary child they implied. That child was mad with contradictions. He was a machine-gun-toting, Chopin-playing psychopath with a sugar high and a short attention span. ~ Donovan Hohn

Romeo had the attention span of a slice of bread.
Which is none at all.
Every time I start to explain something, it's like not only his eyes glazed over, but his entire body. At one point, I wondered if it were possible for him to be asleep with his eyes open.
And God, he smelled good. ~ Cambria Hebert

I have been so struck by the mettle of the men who founded this country and wrote the Constitution. What unbelievable persistence and integrity. I wonder if any of us would have the attention span required to forge a whole new world. I wish we did. ~ Rosanne Cash

That concentrating intently on anything is very hard work. ~ David Foster Wallace

I have no attention span. I get bored so fast. ~ Carrie Underwood

Cats would rule the world if they had longer attention spans. ~ Arthur D. Hlavaty

One of the great things about being an actor is it serves a short attention span, which is something I have. ~ Allison Mack

I have never been much at nonverbal communication. Additionally, I don't have much of an attention span, and what I lack in patience I make up for in ambivalence and an inability to sleep. ~ Carrie Fisher

A friend gave me a drug for attention deficit disorder, because he's afflicted, but I'm not. So what happened to me is I suddenly had an extra-long attention span. People would tell me a story, and it would end, and I'd get all mad. "Come on, man, there has to be more to that story." ~ Mitch Hedberg

I have an attention span that's as long as it has to be. ~ Donald Trump

I would never have been a good scientist - my attention span was too short for that. ~ Octavia Butler

The richness of Africa, culturally, is vast. That's the challenge that we have to face, because most of the time, people in the western world, their attention span is really narrow. ~ Angelique Kidjo

I want to lengthen, not shorten, my attention span, and most of the material splendors of the twenty-first century bully me in the opposite direction. The fault is mine, I'll admit. I'm too slow-witted, reluctant to evolve, constitutionally unable to get with the program. I can't afford the newest gadgets and I'm not a natural multitasker. ~ Phillip Connors

I used to play video games all the time, but now I don't because I don't have an attention span. ~ King Tuff

My short attention span has allowed me a life of diversity in work and place. ~ Maira Kalman

Films to the degree that they glorify mindlessness and short attention span they are bad, to the degree that they encourage empathy with people not like ourselves and encourage us to think about life, they are good. ~ Roger Ebert

Books are better than television, the internet, or the computer for educating and maintaining freedom.
Books matter because they state ideas and then attempt to thoroughly prove them. They have an advantage precisely because they slow down the process, allowing the reader to internalize, respond, react and transform. The ideas in books matter because time is taken to establish truth, and because the reader must take the time to consider each idea and either accept it or, if he rejects it, to think through sound reasons for doing so. A nation of people who write and read is a nation with the attention span to earn an education and free society if they choose. ~ Oliver DeMille

The first thing you learn when you're blogging is that people are one click away from leaving you. So you've got to get to the point, you can't waste people's time, you've got to give them some value for their limited attention span. ~ Alex Tabarrok

Mrs. Kooshof's intolerance for complexity, for the looping circuitry of a well-told tale, symptomizes an epidemic disease of our modern world. (I see it daily among my students. The short attention span, the appetite limited to linearity. Too much Melrose Place.) ~ Tim O'Brien

You don't pay attention man/that's why your money is the size of your attention span. ~ J Dilla

I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span. ~ Charlie Munger

I realize I am contradictory: I have an independent filmmaker's sensibility and a Hollywood director's short-attention span. ~ Doug Liman

I don't necessarily want to direct because it's too much work and I don't have the attention span to stay with it that long. But I think getting everyone together on something that appeals to me and developing the material is something that I like to do. ~ Patrick Dempsey

My attention span and my available time and my caring-whatsoever-about-this-mess are not guaranteed to exist in Later Land, so I can't go there. The ~ Dana K. White

I have a long attention span, and I am also a good scientist, and there are a lot of problems that remain in the organic agricultural movement that the government does not invest in solving. ~ Sandra Lerner

During discussions in his office, Bradlee frequently picked up an undersize sponge-rubber basketball from the table and tossed it toward a hoop attached by suction cups to the picture window. The gesture was indicative both of the editor's short attention span and of a studied informality. There was an alluring combination of aristocrat and commoner about Bradlee: Boston Brahmin, Harvard, the World War II Navy, press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, police-beat reporter, news-magazine political reporter and Washington bureau chief of Newsweek.

-- Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward ~ Carl Bernstein

As a reader, I have a very short attention span and a low tolerance for boredom, and I find that comes in handy with my writing. If I get bored writing something, I pity the people who will then try to read it. ~ John Scalzi

Pilots are so hard because you have to introduce all these characters, you have to hook an audience, and an audience has such a smaller attention span than maybe they used to have. ~ Max Greenfield

You have the attention span of a large bug, and yet I don't feel good enough about myself to not date you. ~ Dov Davidoff

The more you engage with the outside world, the more you'll be able to turn down the volume on those worries. You'll see that they're unfounded. You'll see that the world is a very busy and varied place and most people have the attention span of a gnat. They've already forgotten what happened. They don't think about it. There will have been five more sensations since your incident. ~ Sophie Kinsella

I came to Hollywood to write and found out I don't have the attention span. ~ Lee Daniels

depression lowers attention span, tolerance for frustration, and memory. Behavior is affected by lowered motivation, loss of ability to experience pleasure, and fatigue. The body is affected by headaches, stomachaches, and muscle tension. Relationships are affected by a tendency to withdraw and become isolated with loneliness. ~ Archibald D. Hart

An ambitious, paradoxical world we live in -
of short attention spans
paired with the massive fear
of being forgotten too soon. ~ Sreesha Divakaran

How is Irene?' I ask politely. I really don't care.

He throws his hands up in despair. 'She drives me insane. The woman has the attention span of a toddler. She's ditched playing bridge and has now informed me that she's enrolled in some Kumba dancing nonsense. I can't keep up with her.'

'You mean Zumba?'

'That's the one,' He points his chocolate digestive at me. 'It's all the rage, apparently.'

I chuckle at the thought of Irene in a leopard print leotard, jigging her over generous rump all over the place. ~ Jodi Ellen Malpas

People only worry about the uncanny for about a week; that's the end of their attention span. After that, suspicions turn into shtick. ~ Scott Westerfeld

I wanted to remind people that there was a time when music required an attention span. ~ Mark Kozelek

Five houses?" Lothaire had sneered, cutting Trehan off. "You all live under one roof now. Mine. Because I'm the king of the castle." Then his red eyes had grown vacant, and he'd begun muttering about "Lizvetta's lingerie."
Trehan had been ... underwhelmed by the Enemy of Old's attention span. ~ Kresley Cole

I don't have a good attention span and can't spend long in record stores or video shops or games emporiums without getting grumpy. ~ Beth Ditto