How Distraction Is Destroying Your Soul

Human attention span has dropped from minutes to a matter of seconds, and the consequences are far worse than you might think. I'm going to explain how we got here and why it matters so much.

Welcome to Provoke and Inspire, where I wrestle with culture and current events by asking, "What would Jesus think? What would Jesus do?"

A recent study showed that attention span in the early 2000s was around two and a half minutes. Today, it's just under nine seconds. Another study claims that goldfish have an attention span of about nine seconds. Whether that’s true or not, the implication is clear: we now struggle to focus longer than a fish, possibly one of the least cognitively advanced creatures in existence.

So how did we get here?

The obvious answer is technology. We live in a world that has commodified our attention. Social media platforms and websites are built to pull you in, keep you engaged, and never let go. It’s the attention economy. And in this economy, you're not the customer. You're the product.

These platforms are free because they want your attention. You're what they're selling. Once they have you, everything is designed to keep you scrolling. Our world constantly bombards us with stimulation, and most of us are guilty of leaning into it. I know I am. I’ve got AirPods in, phone in hand, always consuming, always multitasking.

Multitasking has become a way of life, but it's deeply harmful. You simply cannot do deep, meaningful work if you can only focus for eight seconds. Any pursuit that matters—creatively, relationally, or spiritually—requires sustained attention and concentration.

But this goes deeper than productivity. As followers of Jesus, this is a spiritual problem.

Intimacy with God is built through deep thought, reflection, silence, and solitude. The spiritual disciplines—prayer, studying Scripture, journaling—require time and focus. They don’t happen in bite-sized moments. They demand a mind that can be still and undistracted.

Satan doesn’t need to get you to crash your life with some dramatic failure. Like C.S. Lewis described in The Screwtape Letters, the real danger is the gradual slope, the slow drift. What if the enemy’s strategy isn’t some huge attack, but simply making us incapable of concentrating long enough to connect with God at all?

This isn’t a small issue. The erosion of our attention is weakening our spiritual lives. It’s making us powerless. If we want to follow Jesus with depth, we have to fight back.

So how do we do that?

First, we need awareness. If we’re not careful, we just get swept up in the stream. Weeks and years can go by without realizing how much control we’ve lost. Talk about this with others. Reflect on it for yourself. Maybe even for more than eight seconds.

Second, we need to shape our environments and set boundaries. There are tools and habits that can help us reclaim our attention. Use them. Get strategic.

Third, we have to lift heavy mental and spiritual weights. Read real books. Not just summaries or tweets. Engage your mind in the same way you would train your body. It takes discipline. Schedule time each week to think deeply. Reflect. Pray. Study.

If we don’t take this seriously, it will continue to erode our capacity to do anything meaningful. Not only will our work suffer, but our ability to connect with God will fade. We’ll find ourselves pulled in every direction—except toward Him.

Let’s take this seriously. Let’s fight back.

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