Observed arrival · 2026-11-06
The 23-minute interruption claim, read carefully
A sourced, plain-language guide to interruption research, from resumption lag and self-interruption to the often-quoted 23-minute figure.
- For
- Readers checking the 23-minute interruption claim
- Worth noticing
- The page says 44% of interruptions in Mark’s study were self-started, rather than initiated by someone else.
Field notes
The guide separates the time until someone returns to interrupted work from the time needed to regain focus, and pairs plain-language answers with a sources column and a step-by-step account of two measured lags. It reports Mark’s study findings with caveats: work was resumed the same day about 82% of the time, on average after 23 minutes and 15 seconds, while 44% of interruptions were self-started. The page also offers search, phone view, dark mode, and a PDF control.
Observed signals
Read the marks
Editorial observations of this landing page, not a rating.
One card from the complete issue