Young people’s shrinking attention span is nothing to worry about. Here’s why

We're wrong to regard distraction as a new phenomenon. And the supposed 'attention crisis' could be better described as a shift in priorities

Parents may despair at their children's incessant gaming and texting but Centre for Attention Studies founder Marion Thain writes that modes of attention being adopted by the younger generation could in fact bring new types of benefit. Picture: iStock 

In late-19th-century Britain, Londoners could expect to receive up to 12 postal deliveries a day. Letters were often exchanged with the frequency that we imagine only occurred with the advent of email. 

Today, archives brim with scrawled missives detailing arrangements to meet for dinner that are made first thing in the morning, only to be followed by an argument unfolding in the middle of the day, culminating in a reconciliation and reinstatement of the plan to meet. All before nightfall.