All In The Mind
All In The Mind
ABC listen
Fighting for focus in the age of distraction
30 minutes Posted Mar 29, 2025 at 5:00 pm.
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Show notes
Be honest, how many times have you checked your notifications in the last hour? Or opened a new, totally unrelated tab? Or stopped what you're doing even though you really need to do it?
Distractions are everywhere. And whether they're self-imposed or coming from our environment, it can be hard to focus.
Today, we explore the ramifications of our rapidly shrinking attention spans, debunk some myths about focus, and discuss the art of taking a break.
Want to hear more? Check out our episode, When doom scrolling leads to actual harm.
Guests:
Dr Emma Fitzgerald 
Clinical Neuropsychologist
Seb
Emma's son and distracted teenager
Gloria Mark, PhD
Chancellor's Professor Emerita, University of California, Irvine
Author, Attention Span
Credits:
Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Senior producer: James Bullen
Producer: Rose Kerr
Sound engineer: Bella Tropiano
Extra info:
Gloria's The Future of Attention substack
Smartphones in the nursery: Parental smartphone use and parental sensitivity and responsiveness within parent–child interaction in early childhood (0–5 years): A scoping review
Ditching your smartphone won't stop you being distracted, study finds