Scientists Create Intelligent Goldfish

Did my title grab your attention? I try.

The other day I was working on math homework and I went on YouTube to look up a concept. I was focused on the task at hand until I saw a suggested video. I had to click on it. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help myself. 

A superior species. Photo

In another instance, I was doing some good research until I saw an advertisement for a shoe I had looked up a few days prior. I was immediately stopped in my tracks and had to click on it. 

All of this made me mad at myself, but it also made me wonder why us humans can't pay attention to anything. 

Well I did some quick research and found that we have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. Apparently, a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds (I'm not sure how this was determined). Since 2000, humans' attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to a mere 8 seconds. We can thank our love for technology for making us inferior to the humble goldfish. 

This relates to economics because the ability to capture attention is paramount for advertisers, businesses, or a salespeople. Remember how I said I just "had" to click on the advertisement of the shoe? Well, in that case, the advertisers got me by creating desire—one of the 7 proven ways to capture attention. 

Further analysis reveals that breaking expectations, or "disruption," is a great way to get people's attention. Classic examples of this are the links posted on the bottom of websites that say something completely outlandish or even outright fictional in an attempt to get you to click. Funny story: I actually clicked on one of these links as I was gathering some information for this post (see left). 

How do they keep getting me? Well, maybe because this specific link used another, potent way of attracting attention: "mystery," or leaving things incomplete. I didn't begin my day wondering if I came from royal blood, but hey, now I need to know!

Look! Photo

This is part of the reason that fake news is so prominent in our society. People produce fictional stories with attention grabbing, expectation-breaking titles, and they reap the monetary benefits of the mass web traffic their page receives. 

For anyone trying to expand their business or generate clicks on their webpage, the ability to capture someone's attention is crucial. But are you any good at his art? Even if you aren't skilled, what are some ways you try to get people's attention? Does it work? Let those comments flood in!