Insight: July 17

Tonight on Insight special guest host Janice Petersen asks – what is attention, and how can it impact your life? How do you know if your attention span is normal? And what makes some people better at paying attention than others?

When the stakes are as high as a plane full of people or a life on the operating table – how is your ability to hold attention affected, and what happens if you can’t?

“The worst case is that two aircraft collide and a catastrophic failure in the system occurs,” air traffic controller Tom McRobert says.

Attention is not just about the things we focus on – it also concerns all the things we manage to tune out. For neurosurgeon Nazih Asaad, the consequences of getting distracted can be fatal, and with the life of the patient in his hands the potential risks of surgery can weigh on him in the lead up to the operation.

“The level of attention, when you’re scrubbed and operating on somebody, it really has to be undivided,” Nazih says.

What if you have trouble focusing your attention, and when does that become a problem?

According to a 2015 study, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common mental disorder experienced by Australian boys and male adolescents, occurring in 12.2% of young males and 9.3% of adolescent males*.

AFL player for the Greater Western Sydney Giants Heath Shaw was diagnosed with ADHD when he was a teenager. He says some of the behaviours have followed him into adulthood and on the field.

“My attention to detail is really good but my attention span is not that great.” Shaw tells Insight guest host Janice Petersen.

If you’ve ever wondered about how long (or short) your attention span is, or even worried that there’s something seriously wrong with your ability to pay attention – you’re not alone.

Leanne became concerned about her attention span when she caught up with an old friend over lunch, but couldn’t stop checking her phone and thinking about what else she could be doing – like scrolling through her social media.

At home, she says she gets distracted by something as trivial as a bad smell, or the noise of someone mowing the lawn. It can take her off task and take up her attention for the entire day.

“My concern is: [is] the way my brain is working normal in comparison to others?”

Leanne’s attention is tested in this week’s Insight and the findings surprise her.

In the episode, Insight asks the “5 billion dollar question,” as neuroscientist, Associate Professor Paul Dux puts it – can we train, and even increase our attention spans? And how do you do it?

8:30pm Tuesday on SBS.