This assignment started out by reading a variety of news articles reporting a false claim that goldfish have a longer attention span than humans.Following this, I had to look at a page from the 2015 study by Microsoft that first promoted the claim. After this, we had to read some reports that debunked the claim. Finally, we had to make a discussion board post, describing whether we had previously heard of the claim, which news cite that reported the claim surprised me most, which surprised me least, why I think it was supported so widely, and if I heard the claim in the future would I believe it.
Essentially, all of the news sites that reported the false claim said the same thing. They said that the human attention span has shortened from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, which is shorter than the 9 second attention span of a goldfish. Most of them blamed this on the use of technology, and they either failed to report sources, or reported poor sources that are just links to other articles. They fail to provide adequate evidence, and wont respond to emails from people like professor Gernsbacher.
Personally, I actually have heard the false claim before that human beings have a shorter attention span than goldfish. I don’t remember where I heard it from, but I remember it was circulating through the media, so I had stumbled upon it at some point.
I was most surprised that The New York Times reported the false claim. I generally see them as a very reliable, well-respected, trustworthy source. So, seeing that they reported on this claim, and didn’t even provide a link to the study, makes me very surprised, and a bit disappointed in them if I am being honest.
I am least surprised that Yahoo News reported the false claim. Generally, when I think of Yahoo News, I don’t think of it as very popular or respected, so it doesn’t surprise me to see a false claim reported on from them. I have a Yahoo email, so when I go to access my email, I see a bunch of headlines that try to grab my attention. They must have reported on the goldfish story because they thought it would bring them activity and popularity on their news site.
I think it was reported on so widely because it is like a “moral panic”. Goldfish are incorrectly identified as dumb and mindless, so findings that suggest that our attention span is shorter would definitely concern a lot of people, leading them to report the findings, even if they are not accurate. Additionally, I think this also combines with the fact that people are already afraid of the internet as a technology and think that it will lead to many negative consequences, when in reality this is not true from what we have learned in this course.
If I heard this false claim in the future, I would not believe it, because from this class, I have learned that many of the negative portrayals of the internet are not true, and I now challenge many ideas about the internet that circulate in the media. Additionally, doing an assignment that specifically addresses how this claim has no basis in its references leads me to have no faith in the claim. Psychologists and scientists have said there is no evidence that the human attention span has changed in hundreds of years, so I will believe them over a few news articles with poor sources.
Reflecting on this assignment, it was really interesting to explore a claim that was so widely reported on, yet so wrong. Everyone seemed to just keep writing articles about it because other news sites were. They must have been caught up in their fears of the internet and technology, and really believed that it was shortening the attention span, when it really hasn’t.
It was also interesting to reflect on my surprise or lack of surprise with different news cites. It allowed me to critically think about different sites, and figure out who I really trust. Not all news is real or accurate, so it is important to have that at the back of my mind, and to be on the lookout for news that is fake or unreliable.
Also, this was a fairly quick assignment, but I actually found it really interesting. Since I was interested in it, I did not mind reading the articles or posting abut it, because I was engaged. I think this is very important, and more courses need to provide assignments that are more meaningful and engaging, so students don’t see it as much of a burden.
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