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The Attention Span Of Goldfish Have Longer Attention Spans Than Americans

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Goldfish have longer attention spans than Americans. Yes, you read that correctly. As you may already know, the attention span is the amount of time an individual is able to concentrate on one particular action. However, you most likely did not know that “the average attention span of a human being has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013.” (Brenner) The average attention span of goldfish is 9 seconds and due to the effects of various sources of media, this is now one second greater than the average human. Over the years of exposure to social media and live updates, American culture has progressively shortened the attention spans of our citizens, and this is prevalent in the work of famous musicians and their album sales.
Although there are many different forms of media that have been impacted in this attention span shift, I would like to emphasize the shift in music sales. The steady decrease in attention span correlates directly with album sales over the last 35 years. I have selected 3 albums, released in 1980, 1990, and 2000, to show the steady decline in album sales. I chose ACDC’s “Back in Black” for its iconic history, Madonna’s “The Immaculate Collection” for its unique impact, and Eminem’s “The Marshal Mathers LP” for its distinct recognition. The sales of these albums show the decline in album sales over time. Each of these massively popular artists had less and less success selling albums, compared to individual songs in the music industry

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