It's been about 4 months since you last received an email from me.
I tried to come back sooner. Multiple times. And I kept failing, week after week.
It’s not because writing felt like a chore but because I didn't have a strategy. I started 2026 with so many open loops pulling me in every direction.
Building unhookd. Building an AI assistant. Learning. Claude Code experiments. Health issues. Family time. Projects that are 70% done.
But I'm back. For real this time.
Because the AI fatigue is real.
Because every week there's a new tool, a new hype cycle, a new reason to feel behind.
Because I love writing and sharing what's actually keeping me sane in this ever-growing digital world.
The Shift
When I started Screen Smarter, "screen time" meant phones, notifications, doomscrolling.
That was the core of the battle.
Now? AI tools are everywhere. And every week there's a new one demanding your attention, promising to change your life, making you feel like you're falling behind if you don't adopt it yesterday.
AI has completely changed my life (positively) but the thing I keep coming back to is this:
The skill we need most hasn't changed. It's just gotten harder.
47 Seconds
You've probably seen the viral claim that humans now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish - 8 seconds vs 9.
It was everywhere at some point. So….it's completely made up (debunked by many researchers)
It struck a chord with many, because it ‘felt’ true.
But the real number is worse in a different way.
Gloria Mark, a professor at UC Irvine and author of Attention Span, found that in 2004 the average person could sustain focus on a screen for 2.5 minutes.
Today? 47 seconds.
That's an 80% decline in twenty years. Deep reading habits dropped 39% in the last decade alone.
"Short attention span" isn't a personality trait. It's a trained response.
Your brain learned to expect novelty every 47 seconds because that's how often we've been feeding it - slack, instagram, email, etc…
And now we're adding AI to the mix.
That's not a reason to panic. It's a reason to train your attention even harder.
What's Coming
Screen Smarter was always about navigating technology wisely. That hasn't changed.
What's changed is that "technology" now includes an AI layer that's reshaping how we work, create, think, and relate to information.
Ignoring it would be dishonest.
Pretending it's all fine would be irresponsible.
And pretending it's all bad would be the same mistake people made about smartphones in 2010.
If you plan to stick around, expect an email from me every Monday at 8am EST. Same format, more research-backed insights, and even more personal learnings.
If not, I wish you well and a distraction-free inbox!
See you next week,
George
P.S. How has AI changed how you work? Are you more overwhelmed or less? Hit reply. I’d love to hear from you
