How long is your attention span?

[Sunfrog]

I just posted a help wanted thing in the other section and it made me wonder if 500 words is too much or too little to read. How long is the average person's attention span? Like how many words do they read before they give up? There must be a stat for this.

[boron]

Question is really interesting and it has more answers.

Lessons in our schools and on universities last 45 minutes. Recommendation for a meditation time is also about 45 minutes. I've noticed that I can't hold my attention beyond this time by any means.

In 45 minutes someone can read - I'm guesing - 3,000- 4,000 words long article if he is totaly concentrated on it.

I can't stand to read a lot more than 500 words long webmaster article if I was few hours online already before.

[Arthur07]

I don't know about my attention span but in terms of what i'm prepared to read, it varies.

If I'm searching something, I'm guessing I will read webpages which are up to 2000 words or thereabouts.

If I'm reading up on news or just something of interest 500 words will do.

I'm reading about a product I'm going to buy, I make sure I read it all :P

[Chris369]

I tend to stop reading at word number 436.

[Jim]

After about 2/3 words?

Nah, not sure really, if it's an interesting article I tend to read all of it.

[Mystic]

I think the key is how it is presented.
If its a long block of article people would loose interest a couple of paragraphs into the article (unless it is very well written). But, if it is intersperced with screenshots, highlighted text etc they would probably read it in its entierity.

[Submerge]

Depends how into the game a person wants to read. 500 words isn't much so it shouldn't be too much, but if someone is looking into getting the game for $60, they may be looking for a more in depth review.

[aloksingh]

It depends on many factors. If the guy is interested in the thing, then the attention span can be lots of hours. However, if the guy is a casual browser, then not more than 30 seconds would be the average timespan.