Microsoft has revealed that the human attention span has gotten down to eight seconds from 12 seconds in a recent study.

The advent of the Internet and smart devices made it difficult for humans to maintain their focus. Often times, people are also required to "multitask" at their job, which makes giving their 100 percent attention to one particular task almost impossible.

Because of these reasons, humans now have an attention span shorter than that of a goldfish, which has nine seconds on average. The number has been constantly in decline -- from 12 seconds in 2000 to just eight seconds.

Researchers have collected data from more than 2,000 Canadians that are older than 18 years old. Their aim was to see and understand the impact of today's technology in our lives.

"We are moving from a world where computing power was scarce to a place where it now is almost limitless, and where the true scarce commodity is increasingly human attention," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said.

According to Microsoft's recent research, 44 percent of Canadians "have to really concentrate" in order to focus on their tasks, while 45 per cent can be easily distracted from what they are doing.

The study also revealed that one and a half of those involved in the study had to reach for their smartphones whenever they are not pre-occupied. Two thirds rely on social media sites to get the latest news, while 57 percent preferred to view them via "long-form sources." Another alarming statistics is that 59 percent would feel lost if their devices were not with them.

"Attention span is the amount of concentrated time on a task without becoming distracted. Most educators and psychologists agree that the ability to focus attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one's goals. It's no surprise attention spans have been decreasing over the past decade with the increase in external stimulation. Questions: What is the average human attention span? How long in seconds is the average attention span," the Statistic Brain Research Institute said.

According to the study performed by Statistic Brain, 25 per cent of teens have already forgotten important information about their relatives and close friends. But perhaps what is more alarming is the seven per cent who forgot their own birthdays.

You can download Microsoft's comprehensive research on attention span here.