Timeline of the goldfish myth
The Guardian posts an article titled "The 10 commandments of website design" that compares an internet user’s attention span to that of a goldfish, likely in a figurative sense.
2000
The BBC publishes an article titled "Turning into digital goldfish" that states internet users can have "an attention span of nine seconds - the same as a goldfish!" MIT researcher Ted Selker is quoted in this article, but denies providing the writer with any information related to goldfish.
Feb 2002
A UCSF student publication, Synapse, states in an article that "MIT researchers are claiming that the addictive nature of web browsing can leave individuals with an attention span of only nine seconds, the same as a goldfish;" in an apparent reference to the BBC article making similar claims.
June 2002
Statistic Brain publishes their "Attention Span Statistics" page, featuring statistics on human attention span in 2000 and 2012, along with goldfish attention span. These figures are attributed to The Associated Press, but without further detail.
Feb 2012
Marketplace features Harvard historian Nancy Koehn, who cites the goldfish statistics in her interview. No source is cited, but the numbers Koehn uses match the number on Statistic Brain.
Feb 2014
Microsoft publishes "Microsoft Attention Spans" report, which cites Statistic Brain as source of data on goldfish vs. human attention spans. The story is then picked up by Time, Telegraph, The New York Times, and more.
May 2015
Video marketing firm Wyzowl publishes infographic citing the Goldfish Myth, infographic is subsequently published on multiple marketing blogs, including Hubspot.
Oct 2015
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