Study Shows Minnesotans Have Some of the Shortest Attention Spans
Let's see if you can make it to the end of this post ;) Because apparently, Minnesotans have some of the shortest attention spans in the entire country. While I'm upset by these results I'm also not super surprised because I feel like my attention span isn't top-notch.
The study was done by a site called Solitare Bliss. They surveyed 2,000 people and asked them all the same questions in order to determine the rankings.
Some of the responses weren't surprising but others were, so let's take a look at those.
"How often do you bring your phone to the toilet?"
Frequently - 54%, Sometimes - 26%, Never - 20%
"Do you ever use your phone while watching TV?"
Frequently - 49%, Sometimes - 43%, Never - 8%
"Do you ever talk to a loved one while also using your phone?"
Frequently - 37%, Sometimes - 58%, Never - 10%
"Do you ever have trouble peacefully experiencing something because you're thinking about what's next?"
Frequently - 31%, Sometimes - 58%, Never - 11%
"Do you ever have something important to do at work but get side-tracked by less important things?"
Frequently - 24%, Sometimes - 52%, Rarely - 24%
"Do you ever get bored while brushing your teeth or taking a shower?"
Frequently - 17%, Sometimes - 24%, Rarely - 59%
"When reading a book, how long before your mind wanders or you reach for your phone?"
Within a couple minutes - 15%, 5-15 minutes - 32%, More than 15 minutes - 53%
"Do you ever get frustrated and give up quickly when trying something new and difficult?"
Frequently - 13%, Sometimes - 50%, Rarely - 37%
"Have you ever crossed a street while looking down at your phone?"
Yes, many times - 9%, Yes, a couple times - 32%, Never - 59%
Ok, the two that stood out to me the most is the last one about people looking at their phone while crossing the street and the question about people using their phone while talking to a loved one. The responses to the last question surprised me because I thought for sure more people would say that they crossed the street while on their phone. Maybe that's just because I notice the people that do that and I don't really notice when people aren't on their phone.
The responses to the question about being on your phone while talking to a loved one makes me sad for two reasons. One, we should be giving our loved ones our full attention while we're talking to them. Being on your phone makes it seem like you're not interested or don't care, whether you mean it or not. Two, I 100% do this. There have been plenty of times that my husband and I are talking while I'm also on my phone. I need to try and not do that as much because it's a bad habit.
States with the Shortest Attention Spans
Based on the answers to all of these questions, they ranked each state (that had enough survey responses) by the shortest attention span.
Here are the 10 states with the worst attention span:
Tied for 9th are Maryland and Florida
8. Mississippi
Tied for 6th are North Carolina and ... us, Minnesota
5. Massachusetts
4. Indiana
Tied for 2nd are Illinois and Pennsylvania
And the state with the shortest attention span is California.