Children today’s attention spans are shorter than those of goldfish

A child who was born in 2007, or later, has an attention span of eight seconds, while the attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds.

Those two tidbits of information were shared Friday afternoon by Brad Smith, executive chairman of Intuit’s board of directors. Intuit Inc, based in California’s Silicon Valley, is a multi-billion-dollar company that develops and sells financial, accounting and tax preparation software.

“Their (children born after 2007) brains are wired differently,” explained Smith, the keynote speaker at the Women’s Business Enterprise Forum luncheon at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.

“You know why?” Smith asked. “The iPhone was invented in 2007.”

As a result of that change, it’s important to approach education differently, he told his audience of about 75 people.

“It is the 4-D and 4-C foundation, kind of like my high school report card,” said Smith, a native of Kenova in southern West Virginia and a graduate of Marshall University.

He said design and data-driven analysis are important as is discovery-driven scenarios and developer acumen.

“Writing code will be the new form of cursive writing,” he said.

The C foundation includes a connected experience, where people work together followed by competency, completion and community, he said.

“We need to bring (business) problems into the classroom,” Smith said. “I have never known a business to turn down free help.”

And what is happening at small businesses these days will be the catalyst to drive change in West Virginia, for example.

“Seventy-five percent of all graduates want to start their own businesses,” said Smith. “And 75% of all jobs can be found at small businesses, or start-ups.”

Smith also said West Virginia should take a page out of the playbooks of California, Massachusetts and New York, where 75% of all venture capital has been invested.

“That used to be called plagiarism,” he said. “We now call it bench marking.”

It’s important, he said, that West Virginia continue with its efforts to transform itself as a haven for start-ups. But the pieces need to be in place, for example. like having broadband connectivity available statewide.

“Look at what we have, beautiful rivers and mountains,” he said. “They all need to be part of the solution.”

At least a quarter of the workforce at high tech giants, like Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Inc., for example, work from home. The state could attract young professionals if broadband was available.

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