Last week I was riding the 7 train uptown from Grand Central a few hours after the morning rush. There were no strap-hangers, but most of the seats were occupied. I couldn’t help but observe my fellow riders, the majority of whom were engaged with the small screen before them. A car full of necks craned downward might be a chiropractor’s nightmare, yet it’s a revealing snapshot of our digital age.

Since the mobile revolution began in 2000, the average human attention span has shrunk from 12 seconds to a measly 8 seconds, one second less than that of a goldfish’s, revealed a recent study published by Microsoft Corp. In its report, Microsoft noted that media consumption, social media use and multi-screen behavior are major factors that impact our shrinking attention spans.

Attention is a valuable commodity that has become scarce. How do you capture someone’s mind in only eight seconds? That’s the question many are asking in light of these new findings.

Dopamine Rush

Why do screens have such a hold on us? Blame it on neurochemistry. Humans are hard-wired to seek out novelty, as each new experience gives us a blast of dopamine, the feel-good chemical that surges through our system. Mobile technology is the promise of something new always within our grasp, which triggers our reward-seeking behavior and gets us our dopamine fix. So how can you adapt your information to appeal to a culture hooked on novelty with an attention span shorter than a goldfish’s?

Imagine a lecture in which the speaker drones on. The audience will tune out quickly. But if you present information as a question, engaging people in a conversation, you’re likely to grab and hold attention. “Did you know?” and “What do you think about X?” are far more effective than statements or collections of data.

Appealing to curiosity is another winning strategy when it comes to attracting attention. Research has found that triggering a person’s curiosity increases brain activity, including activating the release of dopamine, the original Dr. Feelgood. Creating content that engages consumers by appealing to their innate desire for discovery helps to harness and hold attention.

Sharing Is Caring

There’s an inverse relationship between length of attention span and multi-screen usage. The millennial generation is the first to have grown up with mobile technology, and it’s common for people of this cohort to flit their attention among multiple screens simultaneously, be it a cell phone, ipad, or television. Habituated not only to constant visual or informational stimulation, they are also primed to share much of what they encounter online. The proliferation of smartphones and social media translate into a generation of sharers, and not only when it comes to Instagramming a meal or uploading a selfie. An AdWeek infographic shows that 66 percent of millennials follow brands on social media. What this means for marketers is that creating content that’s shareable is the tool to success.

Researchers at Harvard Business School found that when people feel they are actively engaging with something, they value it more. Offering users the opportunity to manage content through sharing it helps create a sense of ownership.

Winning Hearts and Minds

When it comes to attention spans, we may lag a bit behind the goldfish, but Microsoft Corp’s recent study also determined that our ability to multitask has dramatically increased since the mobile revolution. If our decreased attention is merely a symptom of the sheer volume of information that vies for our eyes, then content that appeals to our curiosity and our desire to feel connected will always engage us.

Heather Candon is a writer living in New York.