{"id":10826,"date":"2026-07-06T12:53:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=10826"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:53:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:53:39","slug":"inside-the-mind-gym-designed-to-build-workers-attention-spans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=10826","title":{"rendered":"Inside the \u2018mind gym\u2019 designed to build workers\u2019 attention spans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thanks to a wave of landmark lawsuits against some of the world\u2019s largest social media companies, the debate over tech addiction has been thrust back into the spotlight. For employers, the issue is showing up in a familiar way: workers struggling to stay focused, their attention constantly pulled toward their phones.<\/p>\n

When Jayney Howson, ServiceNow\u2019s chief learning officer, noticed the same pattern in her own workforce, she took action. The company created \u201cmind gyms,\u201d an AI-powered learning platform where a \u201cpersonal professor\u201d guides employees through short cognitive exercises designed to strengthen focus, critical thinking, and mental agility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people moved from the fields and the mines and the factories onto a desk, we had an obesity epidemic and then gyms were created so that people could find time to go and build muscle,\u201d Howson said. \u201cThe same thing is true now for the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

One exercise lets sales employees practice pitches with a lifelike AI customers that carry on natural conversations and scores employees on aspects like eye contact, filler words, and conciseness. Some 75% of employees return to repeat the exercise, Howson said.<\/p>\n

The approach raises an obvious question: Can more technology really combat a tech distraction problem? Howson argues that the answer depends on how HR leaders use it, adding that AI should complement human interaction rather than replace it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After practicing with AI avatars, for example, sales employees pair up with coworkers to apply\u00a0 those same skills in real conversations<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrative right now is all about what the human is doing wrong,\u201d Howson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to change the narrative to: are we creating the conditions for incredible human potential to be unlocked?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristin Stoller<\/strong>
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com<\/p>\n

Around the Table<\/h3>\n

A round-up of the most important HR headlines.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fully remote companies are hiring less entry-level workers, a new study found. <\/span>Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s called the \u201cempathy tax\u201d: White-collar women are increasingly spending full workdays as their coworkers\u2019 therapist. <\/span>Business Insider<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Amazon workers lament that their HR concerns are increasingly handled by ineffective chatbots and apps over humans. <\/span>Fast Company<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Watercooler<\/h3>\n

Everything you need to know from <\/em>Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n

Remote return<\/b>. Fintech giant Revolut is requiring young hires to come into the office at least three days a week\u2014and they\u2019ll <\/span>earn flexibility<\/span> after one year. <\/span>\u2014Emma Burleigh<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Cafeteria costs.<\/b> Unlike other Big Tech companies, Nvidia employees still have to <\/span>pay up<\/span> at the company cafeteria. <\/span>\u2014Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Labor fallacy<\/b>. The most <\/span>reassuring argument<\/span> about AI and jobs quietly explains why Gen Z can\u2019t get one. <\/span>\u2014Nick Lichtenberg<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#mind #gym #designed #build #workers #attention #spans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to a wave of landmark lawsuits against some of the world\u2019s largest social media companies, the debate over tech addiction has been thrust back into the spotlight. For employers,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[361,10663,82,3081,9789,4646,6619,818,3140,2410,12529,2381,335],"class_list":["post-10826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-ai-agents","tag-attention","tag-build","tag-corporate-culture","tag-designed","tag-fortune-workplace-innovation","tag-gym","tag-hiring","tag-leadership","tag-mind","tag-spans","tag-the-future-of-work","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}