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Are attention spans actually shortening? (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So a view I see a lot nowadays is that attention spans are getting shorter, especially when it comes to younger generations. And the growing success of short form content on Tiktok, Youtube and Twitter for example seems to support this claim. I have a friend in their early 20s who regularly checks their phone (sometimes scrolling Tiktok content) as we're watching a film. And an older colleague recently was pleased to see me reading a book, because he felt that anyone my age and younger was less likely to want to invest the time in reading.

But is this actually true on the whole? Does social media like Tiktok really mould our interests and alter our attention? In some respects I can see how it could change our expectations. If we've come to expect a webpage to load in seconds, it can be frustrating when we have to wait minutes. But to someone that was raised with dial-up, perhaps that wouldn't be as much of an issue. In the same way, if a piece of media doesn't capture someone in the first few minutes they may be more inclined to lose focus because they're so used to quick dopamine hits from short form content. Alternatively, maybe this whole argument is just a 'kids these days' fallacy. Obviously there are plenty of young adults that buck this trend.

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[+] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Point after point after point, this is it exactly. The supposed "lowering" attention span is just a natural response to the greater amount of options available in most aspects of modern life, and making the most efficient use of them.

People were already channel surfing their TV in the 90s with a remote flick every other minute, the current situation is just a natural evolution of that when we go from 100 available channels to literally every conceivable content past and present known to man at a press of a button. Extrapolate that to a similar degree of evolution in most aspects.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fully agree with this. People just have a lower tolerance for mediocre content. YouTube is a great example for that. Long form content is as popular as ever, it's just the demand of quality has risen. A few years ago Let's Plays still did very well. Today Let's Plays are generally falling in viewership. But that's because Let's Plays are mediocre quality at best. Many content creators shifted away from Let's Plays and provide different content. But the actual video length hasn't changed.

Ppeople always found stuff to distract themselves with if a task is boring. As kids we would just play with pens, erasers, or anything else in our reach while studying. Today, kids just look on their smartphone instead. Re-reading the same passage over and over in boring book happens just as much today as it did 20 years ago. But today I am more likely to just not continue reading.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

jew sonic game

I don't know about you, but I loved that game. The Green Hava Nagila Zone was the best.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I do agree with your points for the most part. But I wonder - do films need to be constantly grabbing our attention? Sometimes a bit of downtime can enhance the subsequent action.

And boredom isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can push us to try new things and be creative, to consider our thoughts. If we have short form content available to fill every last second of our free time, it begins to feel like we have to fill those moments, otherwise we're wasting our time.

I think delayed gratification is a good thing, regardless of whether the delay conveys any benefit. Constant reward feels less meaningful. But yes it's a cost/benefit analysis - I wouldn't watch three seasons of a show in order to get to the good bit.