Modern life is taking away our ability to focus. Technology is fragmenting our time and concentration. With this, our productivity – alongside our cognitive and mental health – is being eroded.

The below facts will help you take stock of the cost of these distractions. Through improving our concentration, we can improve the way we work and live our lives again.

1. People spend 47% of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are doing. (Harvard)
2. We check our phones 96 times a day – that’s once every 10 minutes. (Asurion)
3. Office workers check their inboxes around 11 times an hour – averaging 74 times a day. (Gloria Mark, University of California Irvine)
4. Every time they respond to an instant message or email alert, workers stop what they are doing for an average of 20-25 minutes. (Microsoft)
5. ‘Technological distraction’ (emails and calls) caused a drop in workers’ IQ by an average of ten points. To put this into context: in the short term that’s twice the IQ loss you see in cannabis users. (Glenn Wilson)
6. In 2021, US adults read roughly 2 or 3 fewer books per year than they did between 2001 and 2016. (Gallup)
7. 70% of us check our phones within 5 minutes of receiving a notification. (reviews.org)
8. On average we will spend nearly a month and a half (44 days) on our phones in 2022. (reviews.org)

For more information on how to tackle ‘Focus’ and improve productivity – take a look at our 1-hour training session.