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Now it appears that watching television, itself a diversion, requires more focus than we can muster.
Forbes reports that a new study from the consulting group TNS found that 56% of Americans engage in another digital activity (playing with their phones, tablets, or laptops) while they are watching TV. That puts the U.S. ahead of the global average, which is 48%, but well behind Japan, where 79% of TV viewers are using a different device while they do it.
The news will come as a boon to social media platforms, especially Twitter, which have worked to sell advertisers on the idea that they can more effectively reach consumers who are watching a given TV show by also hitting them with a message on social media.
Despite the fragmented attention spans, television is still claiming big viewership worldwide. The TNS study found that some 88% of the world's internet users watch television on a weekly basis.