ThirstyFish

It's believed that a goldfish has an attention span of about 9 seconds. The average attention span of a human being dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds since the advent of cell-phones.

I'm generally skeptical of such research, especially when causation cannot be clearly established. Unlike natural sciences, social sciences, psychology, cognitive science, etc., lack a verification or validation mechanism where theories can be tested repeatedly against Reality.

New "research" on the social, cognitive and psychological impacts of cell-phone use and addiction is just beginning to emerge. I am not sure how valid this research will be, but from a spiritual perspective, cell-phone addiction readily subdues short-term solitude and our ability focus on the present; The two pillars of all spiritual traditions.

These days, children are constantly distracted; Television, video games and iPads. When I was growing up, children spent a lot more time outside and got bored a lot more. Boredom led to creativity. We had to invent things to do. Now, there's no solitude and no focus. Wherever we go and whatever we do, our eyes and our minds are on our cell-phones. The constant anticipation of the next text-message or the next tweet is a source of anxiety.