The Gist

Are Attention Spans Shrinking?

Do they even exist?

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About the Show

A daily afternoon show about news, culture, and whatever else you’ll be discussing with friends and family tonight.

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  • Mike Pesca is the host of the Slate daily podcast The Gist. He also contributes reports and commentary to NPR.

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Episode Notes

On The Gist, Biden’s gaffes.

In the interview, Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game, is back for another round of Is That Bullshit? This time she and Mike talk all about attention spans. There always seem to be claims that attention spans are shrinking, but is that true? Should we be worried that we feel distracted more and more or just take a deep breath and embrace it?

In the Spiel, the Ebola cure.

Email us at thegist@slate.com

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Pierre Bienaimé.

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