• Almost half of Brits admit they're unlikely to read T&C's as they struggle with short attention spans

• Complicated jargon is the top bug bear when digesting information

• With busy lifestyles and time not on their side, 89% say companies should do more to make sure customers understand what they're signing up to

New research reveals Brits are 29% more likely to read a long WhatsApp message than they are to read the full T&C's when making a purchase.

With every friendship group having that one friend who sends long winded voice notes, 1 in 5 (20%) say they get irritated by this. Almost half of Brits (46%) are frustrated by lengthy messages, including WhatsApps and T&C's, with 1 in 5 (21%) of us ignoring them entirely, despite potentially getting into a sticky situation.

But that's not all. When it comes to our attention span, Brits are living by the Too Long; Didn't Read (TLDR) mentality. Whether it's a text message or T&Cs, more than half (55%) blamed complicated jargon as their excuse for not reading all the information they were given and over a third (39%) reveal they're frustrated that they need to pay attention to the small print to avoid being ripped off.

The study, from network provider giffgaff, discovered that nearly half (46%) of us struggle with our attention span which has led to accidental sign ups to masses of emails (25%) and unwanted contracts (18%).

At least 1 in 10 (16%) have even had to pay a high exit fee to leave a contract because they didn't read the small print properly.

However, 9 in 10 (89%) don't believe that companies do all they can to ensure readers fully understand T&Cs, of which nearly half (48%) believe organisations make small print and T&Cs difficult to understand. Furthermore, a further two-fifths (39%) describe the fear of being ripped off by small print as a big bug bear.

Yet despite this, a third (35%) accept the conditions anyway, leading to unwanted sign ups and loss of cash.

Further insights discovered that we can only read a long message or document for 2 minutes and 17 secs before our attention is lost completely, and if it's considered too taxing to absorb, 1 in 5 (21%) will just ignore the contents.

Commenting on giffgaff's research, LSE's Professor Elizabeth Stokoe, Psychological and Behavioural Science Professor, explains why people avoid lengthy, confusing messages:

"It's clear that a combination of jargon and text length is the most common reason why people stop paying attention to T&Cs – despite knowing that this might create problems down the line. Being bombarded by lengthy jargon-filled text also creates frustration and uncertainty, since 20% of people also said that they don't know what they need to do or read when confronted with such text."

giffgaff CEO Ash Schofield comments:

"People are looking for simplicity. As a nation, we are busy and often have a short attention span, we just don't have the time to look for hidden small print, so it's up to businesses to do the right thing and provide greater transparency to customers."

Despite being a tech-savvy nation, often glued to our phones, the data shows many of us don't have the time or attention span to read long texts and contracts, living by the TLDR mantra. We're drawn to simplicity and transparency to aid our busy lifestyles.

Website 4media-group.co.uk