Decline in the ability to filter out distraction and focus attention begins much earlier than middle age - in people's 20s.

The war on distraction rages on, a decade after that first study on disrupted attention and aging. Our inability to sustain focus is now a crisis. Endless notifications and infinite feeds chip away at concentration from youth.

By young adulthood, fractured attention undermines memory and cognition. Middle age brings a "stickiness" making task transitions grueling. Older adults battle rapid-fire distractions impairing working memory.

Our tax-brained minds are the battlefield. The casualties: productivity, wellbeing, present-moment connections. Without a major counteroffensive, sustained focus - our endangered resource - may be permanently depleted.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/09/how-to-rebuild-an-attention-span/279326/