The age of distraction: why your focus takes a backseat in later life
Image: cottonbro studio/pexels
Ageing is a fact of life, but it comes with changes that many of us don't anticipate, like the subtle shifts in our ability to focus, learn and multitask.
If you're in your 50s or 60s, you may have noticed moments where your brain feels slower or you struggle to recall something that once came effortlessly. It can feel frustrating and even unsettling.
But here's the good news: these changes are natural and they're not necessarily signs of a deeper problem like Alzheimer's.
Most age-related cognitive changes stem from a slower processing speed and diminished attention, not from memory loss itself. Your ability to reason, make decisions and form sound judgments remains as strong as ever.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Next
Stay
Close ✕
Let's explore why focus changes as we age, how it manifests, and what you can do to stay sharp.
As the country observes Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, it's especially important to talk about the mental side of ageing, which includes changes in memory, focus, and emotional regulation.
While these changes affect both men and women, they often go undiscussed, especially among older men who were raised to 'tough it out' and avoid showing vulnerability.
But our ability to concentrate is not just about willpower; it's about how the brain itself evolves.
Why does focus change with age?
According to the National Institute on Aging, the brain's processing speed starts to decline in the 50s and 60s. Think of it like a once-speedy laptop that now takes a few extra seconds to open tabs or load apps.
This 'slowing down' means that tasks requiring quick decisions, multitasking, or sustained attention may feel harder than they used to.
According to Harvard Health, it's not that we forget how to focus; it's that we're managing more internal noise. Whether it's emotional distractions, hormonal changes or just years of accumulated mental load, focus becomes more complicated with age.
For example, hearing loss, a common side effect of ageing, can make it harder to filter background noise in a conversation, so you have to work harder just to understand what's being said. That added effort drains focus from everything else.
While these changes affect both men and women, they often go undiscussed, especially among older men who were raised to 'tough it out' and avoid showing vulnerability
Image: Mikhail Nilov/pexels
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Daily Maverick
Tech a beat — if you're feeling overwhelmed, you have yourself – and apps
A Roz Chast cartoon, first published in The New Yorker in 2024, circulated on social media recently. It is of a man walking jauntily down a city street, hands in his pockets, whistling a happy tune with nary a care in the world. The caption reads: 'The guy who didn't know his cholesterol, BMI, his net worth, his IQ, his credit score, his astrological sign or his ancestry.' To this we could add: who didn't wear a wristwatch which recorded his heart rate, paid his bills, monitored his sleep and eating patterns, checked how far he has walked and how infrequently, and judged how often he has jerked off. It is perfectly clear that knowing your cholesterol count can prevent major illnesses further down the line, including heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer's. This is a good thing; this is progress. However, beware too much intrusive data gathering. Imagine a world where your medical insurance turns down what appears to be a valid claim. You can argue, but the data from your wrist or your cellphone could be their artificial intelligence receipts. Those emails you failed to respond to, those 'membership' health initiative apps you just didn't download and those gym membership offers ignored will all be there to justify the rejection. 'Our reasons for declining medical assistance are that we note several days of the week the client spent 24-hours watching Netflix series in a pronate position. The client/patient's heart rate was that of a bear in hibernation. This is a self-inflicted health issue.' Before apps, acknowledging you were overweight, now known as a body mass index, required you to look in the mirror. And then the fridge. And then make a plan. Or not, and happily settle into yourself. So, although blissful ignorance about one's health might be lethal, so too is an obsession with every morsel that passes from lips to toilet bowl. Data surveillance prisons If there is an epidemic of dissociation and loneliness in the world today, it might be because billions spend their 'free time' only on and by themselves – eyes growing myopic, stuck to screens while eating, sitting on buses and trains and even walking, crossing roads, cycling or ambling on city pavements. This leads to an intense inward journey that feeds straight into the data bank, contributing, in the end, to the quantum computer, soon to make its appearance like a big tech messiah. (Google it.) But in order to have any sort of relatively successful 'output' in life, you need 'input'. If millions are growing up or old scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, then we can safely say there is a lot of electronic debris floating around in human consciousness right now. Hence the attraction to 'fake news' and 'permanent outrage'. When life, reality and the world keeps coming as a surprise, this can destabilise the fragile mind. Although social media provides much comic relief as ordinary people find a platform to mock and troll the powerful and rich, the greatest driver on social media is fear, and it is mostly a fear of growing old and dying. This is why Botoxed, bleached-toothed, steroid-pumped, airhead, breast-enhanced 'influencers' thrive on the internet. The idea is to surgically alter yourself to look like an 80-year-old newborn so that death might pass you by. Taxes used to be included in the saying 'the only thing you can be sure of in life is death and taxes', but this no longer applies to the world's billionaires. However, they have forgotten that they too will all perish and die regardless of Venice nuptials. Hopefully Elon Musk will be on Mars by then, performing his act of libertarian nihilism for humankind. On and off the spectrum It is unsurprising that there has been an epidemic of diagnoses of people 'on the autism spectrum'. Sometimes it feels like the internet is owned by people claiming all manner of 'neurodivergent' conditions. Today, should you feel overwhelmed, it is not the fault of the barrage of emails and WhatsApps or invitations to meetings and group meditations, these unwanted intrusions that pop up, prompted by AI's 'health and wellness' programmes. Should you feel swamped, then you must have attention deficit disorder or you self-diagnose as an 'empath' or 'introvert'. Autistic self-diagnosis is a thing now, diminishing the challenges people with real autism face. It makes sense that when our tiny brains are bombarded with so much stimulus in our work and private lives we would be rendered neurotic, anxious wrecks prone to following conspiracy theories. All around the world (where there is no war) there are initiatives to connect without screens. The silent reading gatherings in South Africa – which are like book clubs without the wine or assigned reading – are one such example. It is a hunger for real life, outside the electronic noise. Tune out and drop off. Leave the internet some days. Go on, read a book, watch a bird. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
IOL News
4 days ago
- IOL News
Desperate doctors in KwaZulu-Natal offer free healthcare to the public amid unemployment crisis
Members of the public in Pietermaritzburg CBD are receiving treatment from doctors who are demanding to be employed at public healthcare institutions. Image: Supplied Unemployed doctors took their protest against their situation to a humanitarian level this week when they gathered at the doorstep of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health's head office to provide free healthcare treatment to members of the public. The provincial-based doctors, who mostly graduated from various universities across the country, had since the beginning of the year staged three protest marches begging the provincial government to give them jobs. They said their plea had so far fallen on deaf ears. As a result, a group of more than 40 doctors who mostly graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal set up a healthcare station, with five blue gazebo tents in front of the Natalia Building in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday and Thursday. They said that if the department does not respond to their in-kind protest, they would come back to the same venue to provide healthcare services to the public. Among the services they provided were consultations and prescriptions, checking blood pressure, and diabetes for members of the public on the busy Langalibalele Street near the city's biggest long-distance and local taxi rank. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Their spokesperson, Dr Thamsanqa Zakwe, said that despite being broke, the doctors equipped the station with various healthcare tools, which were donated to them by private practitioners. 'We have been protesting against our unemployment since the beginning of the year,' said Zakwe. He said the destitute doctors recently met with Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane to discuss their dissatisfaction with the announcement that the province had only 20 medical profession posts to be filled. Simelane confirmed on June 25 that 20 posts were to be advertised within the next seven days as a beginning of addressing the unemployment of doctors and other healthcare professionals in the province. Zakwe said the province had previously stated that there were about 300 vacant posts. 'It is their admission because this is what they told Parliament when they were asking for financial assistance for the province,' said Zakwe. He said there was a record showing that there were 137 unemployed doctors in the province, which makes 20 posts far less than enough to fill the gap at healthcare centres. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana increased the national health budget from R277 billion in 2024/25 to R329 billion in 2027/28, due to an additional R28.9 billion earmarked for the employment of 9,300 healthcare professionals in public hospitals and clinics across the country. This also includes the placement of 800 post-community service doctors to address staffing shortages in critical areas. 'In continuing with our protest, we are urging the MEC and premier to ask the national Health to fast-track the release of the money for the employment of medical staff in the country. 'We are the only province with no budget for new staff employment in 2025,' Zakwe said. He said other provinces had started recruiting new healthcare workers from their budget, which is separate from the R28.9 billion. 'The situation in KZN is critical, and it should be treated as such,' said Zakwe. The doctors first protested in January but abandoned the action after being told that the Budget had not been tabled for the 2025/2026 financial year. After the Budget was tabled with nothing promising for them, they again protested. 'We are coming back now because the Budget has been finalised and we know that there is that R28 million allocation for the employment of not just doctors, but also nurses, pharmacists, and physiotherapists,' he said. He said that since Wednesday, there have been more than 120 members of the public per day who came for the free service. People were also given contraceptive and men's healthcare education, and were also advised on how to control their body weight. He said that some of the doctors were registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and were qualified to provide services to the public. 'Some of us have practice numbers. But we have limited our services, taking into account the possible adverse outcome, which might come from dispatching medicine. 'We limited our services to mostly patient education and testing,' he said. Despite being visible outside the health head offices, Zakwe said none of the senior health officials came out to interact with doctors. 'Even when we send emails, we have to prob and prob whether they received our email. Even the responses to those emails are not of substance. 'There is this kind of resistance and reluctance to engage with us on an equal level,' said Zakwe. Simelane previously said that the provincial budget was enough to absorb all the doctors who had finished their community service this year. She said she and Premier Thami Ntuli approached President Cyril Ramaphosa, who referred the matter to the cabinet. 'In the past five years, our department has lost R14 billion to baseline budget cuts. That has greatly affected our ability to expand our staff complement. 'Nonetheless, we continue to prioritise engagements with Treasury and other stakeholders to unlock resources,' said Simelane. The department has not yet responded to questions sent to its spokesperson, Ncumisa Mafunda, on Thursday morning. DA MPL Dr Imran Keeka said financial constraints made it difficult for the provincial government to absorb the doctors 'at present, and any others in the near future'. 'The 20 new appointments being proposed, together with the 150 doctors hired last year, will place further strain on a budget weakened by a decade of underfunding,' said Keeka.
IOL News
6 days ago
- IOL News
The age of distraction: why your focus takes a backseat in later life
Most age-related cognitive changes stem from a slower processing speed and diminished attention, not from memory loss itself. Image: cottonbro studio/pexels Ageing is a fact of life, but it comes with changes that many of us don't anticipate, like the subtle shifts in our ability to focus, learn and multitask. If you're in your 50s or 60s, you may have noticed moments where your brain feels slower or you struggle to recall something that once came effortlessly. It can feel frustrating and even unsettling. But here's the good news: these changes are natural and they're not necessarily signs of a deeper problem like Alzheimer's. Most age-related cognitive changes stem from a slower processing speed and diminished attention, not from memory loss itself. Your ability to reason, make decisions and form sound judgments remains as strong as ever. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Let's explore why focus changes as we age, how it manifests, and what you can do to stay sharp. As the country observes Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, it's especially important to talk about the mental side of ageing, which includes changes in memory, focus, and emotional regulation. While these changes affect both men and women, they often go undiscussed, especially among older men who were raised to 'tough it out' and avoid showing vulnerability. But our ability to concentrate is not just about willpower; it's about how the brain itself evolves. Why does focus change with age? According to the National Institute on Aging, the brain's processing speed starts to decline in the 50s and 60s. Think of it like a once-speedy laptop that now takes a few extra seconds to open tabs or load apps. This 'slowing down' means that tasks requiring quick decisions, multitasking, or sustained attention may feel harder than they used to. According to Harvard Health, it's not that we forget how to focus; it's that we're managing more internal noise. Whether it's emotional distractions, hormonal changes or just years of accumulated mental load, focus becomes more complicated with age. For example, hearing loss, a common side effect of ageing, can make it harder to filter background noise in a conversation, so you have to work harder just to understand what's being said. That added effort drains focus from everything else. While these changes affect both men and women, they often go undiscussed, especially among older men who were raised to 'tough it out' and avoid showing vulnerability Image: Mikhail Nilov/pexels
