{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "id": "8-second-attention-span-goldfish",
  "slug": "8-second-attention-span-goldfish",
  "url": "https://groundedkit.com/claims/8-second-attention-span-goldfish/",
  "api_url": "https://groundedkit.com/api/claims/8-second-attention-span-goldfish.json",
  "claim": "Human attention span is 8 seconds, shorter than a goldfish's 9",
  "commonly_cited_as": "\"Microsoft study: attention spans shorter than a goldfish\"",
  "verdict": "unsourced",
  "verdict_definition": "No primary data found; the trail ends in a roundup, a disowned quote or a circular citation.",
  "confidence": "high",
  "rating": {
    "value": 1,
    "best": 5,
    "worst": 1
  },
  "origin": {
    "publisher": "None — Microsoft Canada (2015) cited the website Statistic Brain",
    "title": "No traceable data",
    "year": "2015"
  },
  "quote": "the figure that everyone picked up on - about our shrinking attention spans - did not actually come from Microsoft's research.",
  "method": "Microsoft surveyed 2,000 Canadians and studied the brain activity of 112 people on other questions; the sources Statistic Brain listed had no record of the research.",
  "drift": [
    "Attribution: Microsoft → Statistic Brain → nothing",
    "Concept: researchers say attention depends on the task, not one average"
  ],
  "interest": "The report came from Microsoft's advertising arm.",
  "safe_rephrasing": "There is no measured 'average attention span'; attention depends on the task and the content (BBC More or Less, 2017).",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "BBC — Busting the attention span myth (2017)",
      "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/health-38896790",
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "kind": "stat_check",
  "as_of": "2015",
  "last_checked": "2026-10-16",
  "stale": false,
  "date_reviewed": "2026-10-16",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}