General
‘Weird and Daunting’: 7,000 Readers Told Us How It Felt to Focus
A review of an experiment that gave “permission” to stop and look.
Last week we asked readers to spend 10 minutes with a painting. No distractions, no notifications — just a full 10 minutes of attention.
Tens of thousands of people tried the experiment. Here’s a look at how many people started and when they dropped off. (We included only people who started the timer, not those who quit before.)
You might think of this chart as the shape of attention. After clicking to start, thousands rapidly exited, some immediately, some after a minute or two. But if you could make it past three minutes, you were more likely to finish than to give up. And once you hit five minutes, your odds of completing the exercise were very high. A quarter who started made it to the 10-minute mark.
We also asked readers to tell us how they felt. More than 7,000 responded. Many told us they found the first few seconds or minutes pointless and even excruciating, and the last few minutes delightful, or serene.
Some were unexpectedly moved by the experience. A few spoke of illness or death, long past or quite recent.
Many found deeper meaning the longer they lingered:
