attention span

American  

noun

1. the interval during which an individual can concentrate, as on a single object, idea, or activity.

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Etymology

Origin of attention span

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Instead, too many filmmakers took the crowd’s attention span for granted; even the strongest films in competition could delete a half-hour of dead air.

From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026

Slaymaker said he had noticed an increase in people using their phones in the cinema, which he put down to "changes in people's attention span".

From BBC • May 21, 2026

A panel of entertainment experts weighed in recently on what the future of entertainment might look like, between breakthroughs in technology, production costs coming down, and the evolving—or devolving—human attention span.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

Here are the 25 LPs that held together the shards of my attention span in 2025.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

“Maribel has a limited attention span and often fiddles with her pencil or other desk supplies during class time.”

From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez