C.Shawn Green’s first big break as a psychologist started with an unexpected discovery in the ’90s: People who play fast-paced action video games saw growth in their perception, attention and cognition. As the Mark and Ilene Laufman Family Professor and Chairperson for the Department of Psychology, he has continued to study the way different stimulants impact cognitive learning and neuroplasticity. Here’s what he has to say about smart phones, social media, constant connectivity and more ways technology is affecting our brains.
Have you heard that the average American attention span is shorter than a goldfish?
This one always makes me laugh, because (A) No, it’s not, and (B) I don’t even know how you would measure the attention span of a goldfish. But people have these concerns, and that happens pretty much any time there’s a change in the media landscape — we get this big swath of technophobia. Often when people are talking about shrinking attention spans, they bring up that dwell time on websites has gone down. But I don’t think that means people are incapable of staying on websites longer, it means that they are becoming really good at deciding what they want to devote their attention to.
How is modern technology impacting our ability to learn and focus?
Modern technology is putting pressure on our capacity to process information quickly and simultaneously, especially in cases of media multitasking. When I’m sitting at my desk, there are six different things that can ping me at once. This stresses those systems and forces me to get better at them and be adaptive to the environment I’m in. In general, people are good at learning new skills, so when there is an environment that requires them to exercise those skills, they improve.
If someone is feeling their attention span challenged, what can they do?
Think of your attention span as a pie: You have a certain amount of attention that you can devote, and anything that takes away from that means there’s less for you to access. So, for example, if you feel a phantom pocket ring [when you feel your phone vibrating, but there’s no notification], that means you’re devoting some amount of attention to where you keep your phone, and that is attention you can’t access for other tasks, like reading a textbook or listening to an instructor. Distractions like these are consistently problematic, but what counts as distractions for people can differ. You have to know yourself and what types of things allow you to focus or take away from your attention.
This article was originally published in the Spring 2026 issue of Letters & Science magazine.