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How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average?

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How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average?

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TRANSCRIPT

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The question of the week. How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average?

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The question of the week. How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average?

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listen to the episode and while listening read the transcript, to improve pronunciation

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Are fish able to focus for longer than humans? In this programme, Neil and Catherine discuss how our brains are being affected by technology. They also teach you six items of useful vocabulary.

This week's question:

How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average?

a) Around 30 minutes

b) Around two and a half hours

c) Over three hours

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary

attention span the length of time you can focus on something

Transcript

Note: This is not a word for word transcript

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English - the programme where we bring you an interesting topic and six items of vocabulary. I'm Neil.

And I'm Catherine. Now, this programme is six minutes long.

Sounds easy? Maybe not, because today we're talking about our attention spans : are they shrinking?

Can that be true? Smartphones, the internet, social media - these all certainly do take up a lot of our attention. But how much? How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average? Is it...a) around 30 minutes,b) around two and a half hours, or

c) over three hours?

Right, and that's a massive change in a very short time. Now, the year 2000 was just before the boom in digital media and smartphones, so many think they're to blame for all these distractions - now, distractions are things which take away our focus or attention.

And there's a phrase in English - we say 'to have the attention span of a goldfish'. Or 'the memory of a goldfish'. So these poor... poor gold goldfish, Neil.

Yes, they get a bad press, don't they? That's a phrase which means 'criticism' - especially criticism in the media and especially in newspapers - or the 'press', as we call it.

That's right. And they found out a couple of things. Firstly - they couldn't find evidence of the research that Microsoft quoted in their report. In other words, the programme couldn't find scientific evidence that our attention spans are in fact shrinking.

It's all Dr Gemma Briggs, Psychology lecturer, Open University
down to the individual; it's all how you choose to apply your attention. So attention-switching ability may well have developed in recent years, in the age of the smartphone and the internet. But because someone's distracted by their smartphone or wanting to quickly Google something, it doesn't mean that they then don't have the ability to control and sustain their attention when they carry out another task.

Well, my attention span is not that short that I can't remember that I said two and a half hours.

OK, so first we had attention span - that's the length of time we can focus on something. And mine is definitely shorter than it used to be... Neil? Neil?

That's alright. So, next up we had a bad press . Goldfish get . Social media gets . And this means they all get criticism in the media.

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BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English / Goldfish, brains and phones

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Are fish able to focus for longer than humans? In this programme, Neil and Catherine discuss how our brains are being affected by technology. They also teach you six items of useful vocabulary. How long do we look at our mobile phones for in a day, on average?

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Study them, they are part of the final exam and use them to complete page 30 and 31

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Confusing words. use them to complete page 30 and 31. They are part of the exam

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Do exercises six, eight and nine from page 31 of your book

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Do exercises six, eight and nine from page 31 of your book

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We will check answers at class

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Do exercises one , two and three from page 30 of your book

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Do exercises one , two and three from page 30 of your book

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We will check answers at class

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Listen to the following explanation about Natural events and Climate. 

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Listen to the following explanation about Natural events and Climate. 

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After you finish write to me about what you learned. Send it by email

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English Lessons with Adam - Learn English [engVid]

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Learn English Vocabulary - Weather and natural disasters