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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Nothing has changed
I don’t believe anything has changed neurologically or psychologally in the last decades.
There have always been people who are more susceptible to consume “trashy” (provoking, easy to consume) media.
Once it was low-quality newspapers (a german band once refered to them as “fear, hate, tits and the weather forecast”, which fits really well!), then it was trash TV, then mobile games, and now TikTok and stuff. Some people are just attracted to flashy stuff and can’t get enough dopamine.
It’s just that the latter example is very new, and everything new is automatically bad, no matter what.
There have always been young people who read books, create art, video game, listen or create music, have hobbies, and so on.
BUT, something has changed:
One word: attention economy. Capitalism realized, that especially in combination with ads, you can create A LOT of money by making easy to consume content.
If a platform uses dark patterns (emotional or funny content, reinforcement, short content instead of longer stuff, flashy stuff, likes, endless scrolling, keeping you as long as possible in the app, etc.), it makes a lot more money with it’s users.
Years of algorithms perfectionized manipulating you and your attention span with supernatural stimuli (as mentioned above).
What to do with those informations?
Notice, how boring Lemmy, RSS-feeds, and stuff like that are?
After checking my posts for this day, I’m done and do something different, like cleaning the kitchen. Now, I’m on the toilet and don’t have anything else to do, and I have fun answering you :)
That’s how our devices should work. I don’t wanna be a slave, I want to own my device, and not the other way around.
Tbh, I’m grateful Reddit went downhill. A year ago I could never imagine nuking my account.
I spent my whole teenage and now adult years (15 - now) on that shithole, was super addicted and couldn’t spend 2 minutes without checking my phone, even in meetings, dates, and so on. It was just as bad as vaping for me. I knew, that it was slowly killing every brain cell, but “loved” it too much.
Thanks, u/spez ❤️ You killed Reddit for me and made my new “Reddit” (-> Lemmy, but with the same app) THAT boring for me I bought an e-reader now to read books instead😂
Yes I think you’re right. People haven’t changed, but the environment has changed - it’s continually getting better at manipulating us.
Lemmy does have a limited amount of content, but what it does have seems to be of higher quality. Which is perfect! We don’t need constant, cheap content.
I don’t think Lemmy has higher quality content, but it has less content which makes you interact with it to get more of your social media fix. I’ve seen this post a couple times passing by, and I’ve just come back to look through the comments because there isn’t anything new to see.
I would say higher quality content in that the comments are pertinent and not just jokes. Sometimes I’d spend a couple of minutes reading nonsense on Reddit before realizing, then I’d try to scroll way down for a fresh comment thread, then just give up on the post
I wouldn’t agree with “better content” per se.
There’s just as much “spam” (links to articles, low effort posts, etc.) as everywhere else. At the same time, the content is waaaay better.
Karma
The fact that you don’t have to keep your karma in mind here let’s you speak more freely.
If I would say “Pineapple on pizza is disgusting”, I would have been downvoted to oblivion on Reddit. Here, they just ignore it, OR, don’t downvote and tell me why I might be wrong.
Back to Reddit: That, in fact, would give me two options:
- Delete this said comment, which would discourage discussions and make every community hive-minded, or,
- Stay strong to my opinion, and loose the ability to post to many subs anymore, because I now have -5000 Karma.
I always chose 1… Here, I don’t care. And this mindset has lead to many great, mind opening discussions.
Even on subs like r/Changemyview or r/Unpopularopinion this culture didn’t exist. No opinion was unpopular, merely “weird” (like “I like my socks wet” and stuff). Every “unpopular” opinion was popular on Reddit. And elsewhere, everything was a fight.
On this site, disagreeing is only for useful discussions I had/ read too. It’s almost like an “anti-echochamber”, and I love it! I love my opinions being challenged.
One more result of that is that the upvote/ downvote function went from “I agree/ I find that funny” or “This is against the subs opinion” to “This comment is worth reading for others and adds value. OP put work into it”. WHICH IT SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! This button isn’t for disagreeing, it’s for FILTERING out trash!
Algorithm
Also, there’s no algorithm. On many other social media, post that make you laugh (-> mostly dumb stuff or reposts) or promote strong emotions (mostly aggression and tribalism) got promoted.
Here, it’s somehow totally random. There’s so much “boring” stuff on my trending page. But, I’ve discovered many cool niche subs here I wouldn’t have otherwise. I didn’t know so many people were into collecting space rocks and model trains for example 😁
E.g., my own gourmet-mushroom-growing-community got super many views and comments from people who’ve never heart of that before. That was unbelievable!
On the other hand, there’s sooo much useless information, some opt-in filtering/ algorithm wouldn’t be bad tbh. But many say that about account karma too, which is a way smaller feature, and that has repercussions too (see above). Something like an algorithm would be HUGE, but also maybe hugely bad for this site?
Idk, tell me! Be controversial! 😁
Yes the karma system here is way better! It definitely reduces the hive mind mentality.
I don’t think we need any kind of algorithm though. That would only serve to make the popular stuff more popular and the niche stuff gets buried. Maybe if I could personally filter out communities that I’m not interested in?
Yes the karma system here is way better! It definitely reduces the hive mind mentality.
Sure, but we have to make sure we communicate what the up-/downvote function actually is for. Many Reddit-refugees would otherwise just keep it as a “I agree”-button, and nothing would change for the better.
Maybe if I could personally filter out communities that I’m not interested in?
I agree with the sentence before, but I don’t think filtering out everything you’re uninterested in is remotely possible. Yes, you can filter out some specific communities you dislike, like all those Linux-subs, if you find them annoying. (OH, btw.: That was a comment in one of their/ our memes, and when one guy, coming from outside the sub, complained this stuff is constantly on his trending page, someone suggested “We’re only 3 popular subs. Just blacklist us and you’ll never hear from us again” it really resonated with me!)
Alternative?
I personally would rather enjoy a “promote” than “bury” function, something like a “GigaUpvote™” for posts you wish others to see too. Market the up- and downvote button as a quality filter, especially for comments, and if a post gets a certain ratio of up- and downvotes, comments and promotions, it will appear on the “popular”-tab.
Just as an additional function, IF YOU WANT. Keep the “old” spirit for those who prefer it, and suggest it for newcomers to find new content. And make it easy to toggle off for social media junkies like myself.
Your concerns about the need for an algorithm is correct.
But, instead of “personalized content”, users should be able to make their own algorithm, with subscription and filter lists. I use uBlock Origin to block content you named as ‘tribalist’ (good take!).
But maybe I’m more sensitive. I don’t find Lemmy boring, I can lurk here for hours. So I also blocked the ‘prev/next’ buttons just to stay on the first page (I’m an eccentric person).
Good article.
Not sure it is higher. Last week a cop was ambushed and murdered and of the 50 plus comments, every single one of them were praising the murder. I see that kind of mentality far more here.
Getting off reddit was one of the best things I’ve done for myself in years. I’m still fairly active on lemmy thanks to having a lot of free time at work but I’ve also been reading and making an earnest effort to enrich my mind again. Feelsgoodman
Same here. I have nothing of value to add.
What changes did you notice in your thought patterns when you withdrew from Reddit?
What books are you into and would recommend? Is there a community here?
I noticed that I take a lot more care and attention on my posting on lemmy in general. The conversation can be much richer than it is on Reddit and I feel that it’s worth my time to sometimes write several paragraphs, cite sources and really dig into a topic. Be it star trek lore, political theory, or the weather. It’s nice to have a space where thoughts can be challenged and discussed without it devolving into a shit slinging competition. I also don’t find myself on lemmy much when I’m not at work which has led to me being more present in my home life I’ve been able to get more done around the house. I have terrible ADHD and it came as a surprise how much easier it’s been, it’s still difficult but it’s better. I find I’ve just slowed down a bit and been more attentive overall. I won’t attribute that wholesale to reddit as I’ve been making other lifestyle changes lately but being online too much was certainly an issue and it’s made those other changes easier by virtue of having more time.
I’m on a big political theory bend right now as far as reading goes. I’ve read the conquest of bread, mutual aid, the state and revolution, bullshit jobs, some of capital (it’s boring as fuck lol), the dawn of everything, some short writings from Malatesta, and a few others I’m blanking on right now. I’m also working my way through the Lord of the rings as well. I plan on revisiting some old favorites down the line too.
As for recommendations, I can’t praise The Dawn of Everything enough. I lumped it in with politics earlier but it’s really not (in the traditional sense). It’s co-written by anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow. In the book they attempt to go through the historical, anthropological, and archeological record to construct a grand narrative for the development of human society. They offer some very compelling evidence against the old myths of the noble savage or primitive barbarian that have been the dominant theories of human social development since the late enlightenment. It’s truly eye-opening and fascinating. Also, if you haven’t read the Lord of the Rings before, do yourself a favor and give it a go, you won’t regret it.
There are a few book communities here, but I’m blanking on which instances they’re on at the moment. I’ll have to go through my subscribed pages and come back to link them
I noticed that I take a lot more care and attention on my posting on lemmy in general. The conversation can be much richer than it is on Reddit and I feel that it’s worth my time
Yep, same. I’ve also spent A LOT of time in this quarter just creating content and answering comments. But, none of it felt like wasted energy and I don’t regret anything. I was able to strengthen my created community, help others in topics I’m interested in, and so on…
I have terrible ADHD
Again, same. Medication and meditation helped a lot making me more mentally balanced and being able to read a book or doing hard mental work.
Also, when I let my thoughts drift, I think about all those great interactions I’ve had this day and not how shitty everything is in general, like it has been on Reddit. That really took a strain on my wellbeing, and I reduced my usage of it long before taking the plunge and switching to Lemmy.
Book recommendations
I “really” started reading not a long time ago. That was just something I was never able to due to said untreated ADHD, but now, I can, AND I LOVE IT!
I just started reading the Witcher books after playing through The Witcher 3. Even though I played it for 400 hours “without break”, it really hurt when it ended, and I wanted more from this immersive, disgusting, magic, beautifully crafted world. Those books (I’m into 2/6 now) are way better than I could have ever imagined and really help me break out of all this RL shit. Those books also demonstrate again how capitalism, Hollywood and Netflix transform a piece of european culture (which TW is based on) and extremely interesting characters into something as shallow and americanized as the series on Netflix. Different topic…
On the more “nerdy” side, I’m currently reading “Running Mycelium” from Paul Stamets right now. It’s about how mushrooms could save the world, for example by filtering out toxic waste or plastic from the environment, giving us a sustainable building solution, new medicinal horizons (e.g. antibiotics), and so on.
Yeah, otherwise, I have a lot of books in my reading list and already downloaded.
I will definately take a look into your recommendation, that sounds like a possibility for me to be fun at the next party 🙃 Text
I dropped reading for most of my adult life, I had a hard time with it as a child too before I got diagnosed but my symptoms were a lot less severe then too so it was still easier than it currently is. Im poor and don’t have health insurance so I’m unmedicated which IS NOT fun lol. But I’m making it (barely) work.
The witcher is a series I’ve wanted to get into for a while, glad to hear the books are as great as they sound! The games are fantastic so I’m sure the source material only gets better. Mycology is fascinating topic as well. I’m an amateur grower and forager when I can bother to get off my ass. It’s a pretty dope subject and an even doper hobby if you’re in the market for one.
If you want a fun YouTube recommendation, Crime pays but botany doesn’t is a good channel. He’s an Italian from Chicago with a lot of passion for ecology and reducing mans influence on nature. Most of his videos are just him walking around the woods and pointing out cool plants lol. But he has this guy on his videos on a semi-regular basis, Adam Rockefeller. His specialty is on psylocibin mushrooms of all varieties and there’s some really enlightenimg info on them in those videos. From field identification and testing to genomic sequencing and plenty of other stuff. The guys a savant. He doesn’t seem to have a large independent presence online but it’s always a pleasant surprise when he shows up. I have a suspicion you would enjoy it
This is exactly why I love Lemmy. I noticed it within hours of quitting reddit. The sheer volume of content on Reddit, plus the algorithms, kept my attention for hours. Lemmy just isn’t that big and probably 60% of the content I see is in swedish, gerrman, or dutch, which I can’t read, so I spend like 15 or 20 minutes max here and then go do something else.
I can relate so much, but instead of only Reddit stealing my time it’s a bunch of other things as well. Mostly gaming and random series.
But yeah I remember going thru 8th grade by scrolling reddit all day, school was boring af. Now I only use Lemmy on the bus (rn) or checking for replies before I go to sleep.
I learned very much from yall, and I’m almost convinced reading is worth it, idk what to start reading tho… Maybe a future tale
If you like fantasy, Redwall is always a fun read. It might be a bit of an easy read though.
are you trying to scare me of with “easy read”? I might read it, idk, as I said I’m very on the edge…
But don’t mind my personal shit, thanks for the recommedation!
I just meant that it could be considered more of a children’s fantasy book in some cases. I hope you do at least read the first book, it’s good
well alr, saved this with all the others that I know nothing about.
RSS feeds have made my attention worse. It almost becomes a chore to get my bearded to zero content unread. I also shove my YouTube subs and podcasts in there though.
Yes and no. I think it makes sense when you separate it a bit more.
Instead if throwing everything in one list, create profiles/ categories/ folders/ whatever.
I use it mainly for the public state media in my country. Those “media hubs” are a horrible UX (despite being insanely expensive!) and to fix that I add some of their shows into my RSS, so it works similar to the YouTube subscription box, because somehow german media people are still behind 30 years… In that way I fix that shit for myself because they can’t…
I don’t use it for example for news or YouTube, since both have a timeline already built in.
I didn’t buy an e-reader I just installed Cool Reader which is free. But the result is the same. I probably read five books a month now where before it was probably less than one a year.
I really recommend trying an e-reader in your local shop or borrowing one from a friend if you can.
I’ve read books on my phone for about a year now, but the “feeling” isn’t right there, and I somehow get distracted a bit.
I’m really a fan of “a device should do one thing, and that really good”. I bought a camera, a reader, and so on because of that. My software habits are the same. I have dozens of simple apps on my phone and PC, and all of them serve one single purpose. Look up the UNIX-principle if you’re interested in more. (Sorry, this site is full of Linux-circlejerk 🙃)
- The camera makes 10x better photos than every top tier smartphone (+ is a fun offline hobby that improves your skills!)
- The reader gives you a display that’s super easy on the eyes, lasts for weeks on battery and doesn’t distract you.
- My smartphone is only there for communication (Lemmy, messengers, calls) or if I have to quickly look up something on the web
Separating everything really also separates your mind, giving you peace.
It’s minimalist and maximalist at the same time.
I’m sort of on the same wavelength. You can get a pretty powerful phone for cheap if you don’t care about camera quality. I mostly only take pictures when people ask me to so I don’t care about camera quality. But if you do your research there are cheap Android phones with some of the latest snapdragon processors or whatever for cheap. Latest Samsung and iphone cost what they do because of the camera mostly. I don’t need a camera so I get cheap phones with strong hardware and basic cameras. Currently using a Motorola.
I will look into getting an e-reader though. Plan was always to spend less time on my phone. Photography doesn’t interest me. I’ve tried to get into it because hot girls are into it but I can’t even fake it.
I honestly wouldn’t buy a “cheap” phone in your place to be honest. They don’t last as long. Maybe take a look into Fairphone, or Google Pixel devices. Both can run many CustomROMs (if you’re into that), extending the life span and making it more private. I’m a fan of the Fairphone, since you can repair it yourself and it has (I believe) 10 years of software support ootb
Mine is completely unlocked and has no bloatware. I’ve had it for six years and it’s still going. As I said, do your research before getting a phone. Look at what hardware is in it etc. Only thing it doesn’t have is a fancy camera.
I will look into getting an e-reader though. Plan was always to spend less time on my phone. Photography doesn’t interest me. I’ve tried to get into it because hot girls are into it but I can’t even fake it.
Then don’t chase something you don’t enjoy! If you want to meet new people, be enthusiastic and have fun in what you’re doing right now, whatever it is. When I’ve learnt something in the last few years, then it is to have fun and enjoy yourself. Others will notice and will be interested into you.
You’re into books? Get a library card and ask the handsome lady next to you out. You enjoy collecting postcards? Weird, but interesting! Will be a great conversation starter. You get my point?
I do but talking to girls is how you get cooties.
I know the song you’re talking about! :D
Love the BILD reference
Tldr? /s
Walls of text everywhere I’m scared
Lmao. Took me a while to understand this.
Sounds like you have short attention span.
That’s the joke, my friend.
No you
attn short?
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What makes you think language has improved to the point where 10 minutes of reading now conveys the same amount of info as 1 hour of reading in 1980?
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Yes. I would say, not ‘learn’ a skill but ‘grasp’ a skill, though.
Try reading a book for 5 hours in the city surrounded by your devices, and try doing it in nature with no devices around you. We didn’t change, but our world did and we adapt with it. Of course, things wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t people getting unimaginably rich by trapping your attention.
I don’t know, sounds easy enough. But then I’m middle aged and love reading.
It’s genuinely more effective in today’s society to skim read and give up if the content isn’t good. There is so much time wasting bullshit, misinformation, ads, and scams put in front of us. But we don’t have a great defense mechanism, so our attention spans have suffered alongside the quickening of our skepticism response.
There’s a great book that covers this called The Shallows. Basically, they argue yes. Internet is designed in such a way to keep you clicking and scrolling. As people have used internet devices while their brains are forming we are likely shaping those brains to a more distractible form.
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Yes behaviourally, no empirically.
You get a positive dopamine reactive from viewing multiple short form content pieces in succession, you get an arguably more valuable serotonin reaction from viewing a more in depth piece and maybe feeling like you learned something.
How you’re affected by these feelings of satisfaction will influence your behaviour. I recently compared mine and my wife’s weekends, she’d watched a lot of short form content and couldn’t remember a thing, felt empty from it, I’d watched a series of a tv show and could talk about the story and concepts.
But that’s not all there is to it, Plato argued that the written world would dumb people down because they no longer had to remember things and pass them on vocally, maybe a decrease in the requirement for individual cognition, but obviously an overall good.
Edit: edit was messing with me so I couldn’t add this til now. I’m just a drunk guy enjoying dinner and browsing Lemmy, what you’re looking for is the simple answer, the dopamine hit, a minimal conversation. Put your attention span to the test and look into some open access research on the subject, it’ll be fun! And its all that seperate us from the YouTubers that we venerate so much
I do find it funny that people generally seem to be viewing shorter videos, whereas I often don’t want to start a video shorter than 20 minutes. I’ve been watching a lot of Cathode Ray Dude and those videos have girth.
It’s also funny that YouTube tried to kill off short videos a decade ago and are now desperately trying to roll that back.
Some great points! So you think that people’s capacity for attention hasn’t changed, but the types of media we’re exposed nowadays to can encourage us to change our behaviour toward consuming short form content? But if that content wasn’t available, they could happily move back toward longer form content?
I do agree that short dopamine hits do make me feel good in the moment, but hollow after the fact. Longer, informative content does lodge itself more into my brain and provide longer lasting feelings of reward.
Yeah I think that’s about right, our capacity hasn’t changed this quickly, just the menu has changed to suit a quick fix appetite.
People can and will still focus on longer form content, but maybe that’s their day job, so they want a bit of a release from in depth activity or ‘important’ information.
I think there is a real danger here in some form… think about how you’d answer the question ‘what did you do on the weekend?’ That could easily be nothing or it could be I watched a great series called severance that explored the concepts of labour and our work and home lives as human beings
It’s pretty interesting how there really wasn’t any written records for thousands of years. Entire religions and, as in Plato’s time, whole schools of thought just weren’t written down except for a few students notes.
Obviously time and decay factor into it, but there seems to be a culture shift at a certain point that more people decided to record things other than taxes and itemization.
I argue that the written word is our greatest invention. Without it we’d be back to square one every other generation.
Yep, that’s the root of the ‘how long do you spend thinking about the Roman Empire?’ Meme right?
It’s some of the earliest popular records of reflexive thought and philosophy, available to us because it was recorded, and still the same shit we’re struggling with right now
I remember when I was a kid they’d discuss teens as the “MTV generation”, kids who didn’t really watch TV, they just watched music videos, and even then there was scrolling news down the bottom and boxes would pop up on the side showing different things. They said kids had attention spans of 12 seconds and it would cause massive issues with finding work and being productive as adults.
I’m in my 30’s now and I’ve heard the same thing about every generation since.
It seems that the real issue is that teenagers have short attention spans and adults have amnesia.
Mine certainly is.
If you want to compare your attention span to what it once was, try watching older media. The wife and I were watching the walking dead and I was getting bored and that’s only 10 years old. Try watching 2001: A Space Odyssey without any distractions. It’s torture.
Ok well 2001 was kind of an outlier… you’re not wrong. It was slow when I watched it in the 90s lol.
But, watch something like The Maltese Falcon. Which I did recently.
I had no issue following. It didn’t plod along in my view (of course I’m middle aged and don’t do tiktok). But it also wasn’t rapid fire constant clamor. There was space to absorb and reflect as the story evolved. And you need that space because it’s mentally challenging.
One thing that hit hard is how it is a good, interesting story above all else. Definitely gives theater vibes and made me realize how hollow a lot of movies are.
Anyway. There are lots of examples from the 60s and 70s that are slower paced and a lot less busy and chaotic than modern films for sure.
An older film I really recommend is Twelve Angry Men. No special effects or camera work. Just twelve jurors in a room discussing a murder case - and I was hooked throughout! Perfectly paced.
I’ve been meaning to watch that one.
Yeah but there are also modern films and TV shows that could be considered “slow” and are fantastic. There’s more media in general, and a larger portion is definitely catered to short attention spans, but there’s still some great, “slow”, shit.
2001 is fucking stellar and I can easily watch it all in one sitting. It’s a banger. I’m mid30s though and also don’t do social media, just forums.
“Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”… I want to know how many kids can get through that these days.
Did you try watching a good show though?
The Walking Dead was a decent show when it started, but it went off the rails pretty quickly. Many hated the second season, especially, but personally, I prefer this slower-paced storytelling. In fact, the thing I don’t like in the new episodes is how they’re filled with action and unnecessary combat scenes, probably to hold onto the younger generation without an attention span.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll still sit down to a marathon of LOTR extended edition. So, mine is maybe about the same as 20 years ago. Maybe not though because LOTR could be an exception because it’s the GOAT.
Oh, man, LotR is the exception to the rule. I can definitely still enjoy a 12 hour journey to Mordor.
That’s a bummer. There are so many great older films out there that you’re missing out on. Some of the best media ever created.
Tbh I found the walking dead kind of boring after the first season. There is only so much you can do in a very specific setting before you start falling into a lot of tropes. It got to a point where I started paying too much attention to the wrong things. For example, if I was in a zombified world, I don’t think that staying clean shaven from neck to toe would be a priority lol.
No hate to anyone who enjoys it though, you do you. I’m almost certain that I enjoy something that you find boring.
And the growing success of short form content on Tiktok, Youtube and Twitter for example seems to support this claim.
You can’t really make a conclusion from this. Maybe our short attention span is the reason short form content is so popular.
I guess it’s not our attention span declining, but just that we are not used to waiting or getting bored.
I noticed my capability to keep my attention on a single subject dramatically increased after Reddit shit the bed and killed 3rd party apps, making me effectively quit social media for a month or two.
I should also really drop Lemmy as well, as much as it is fun it is constantly nagging my brain for attention. It’s better than Reddit imo, but short-form content really does make you less able to keep your mind focused. After all, a distraction is just a couple taps away…
I can’t stand tiktok, Instagram or any of those short video sites.
I still watch hour long YouTube videos of dudes working on cars and documentaries talking about the most random things you can imagine.
People are getting dumber and their attention span sucks
Every 30 days I have to hide YouTube shorts because if I don’t I’ll get sucked into a hole until 3 in the morning without even realizing it.
I still watch long form content, but man are those shorts addictive.
How does this work? You watch 100’s of ~10 second videos in a row for hours? Trying to understand because this seems to be a common thing these days.
I have never tried tiktok and only saw some YouTube shorts. I see one or two and it annoys me because it’s clipped badly, gives bad information, or just shows something meaningless. Random loud music. The same video keeps playing on a loop as I try to think.
Even if it was great content, my brain just couldn’t stay focused beyond a couple videos. The constant changes to a new video would be exhausting for me. There’s also no time to think about what you just saw.
YouTube shorts makes me angry. I can’t watch a single one of them, much less get “sucked in” to them. Interface is shit, no scrubbing, vertical, fuck it.
Yes I forgot about the vertical too. I guess it’s because the video isn’t worth the effort to turn the phone horizontal.
i remember Michael Stevens saying in an interview with Anthony Padilla that the subway surfers gameplay concept isnt really new and we’ve been doing the same thing for ages, rather than subway surfers while listening to some bot read reddit posts, people were listening to their friends while looking at birds or animals at a zoo, or even getting heavily intoxicated to help converse with your friends.
and people have said that people are getting dumber but i think theyre just young let them grow up then compare. we have been laughing at stupid ass jokes, shitty songs and toilet humour since the beginning of time.
people from the 13th century might be saying that we’re lazy for not making our clothes by and settling for an inferior product made by machines, but in the grand scheme, does it really matter that much?
When my mom was a kid, her grandpa would often watch/listen to the TV, while listening to the radio, and watch out the window and announce who was driving down the road in front of their farm by recognizing their vehicles. Nobody considered it brain rot, his family considered it a skill he had.
Tl;dr
It’s almost like you started reading this Time Article but never finished.
Or maybe this sciences times article
While the consensus is out about whether or not or attention spans are really shortening, most sources say whatever is going on, isn’t permanent…yet.
We still have the ability to unplug and find something that’s truly interesting to us, something that we care about, and focus on it. We just have to find it, and then, actually do it.
My tolerance for wasting my time has changed. I have more access to more relevant content closer to my interests, so why should I waste my time with older forms of media that are poorly aligned with me.
What older forms of media are you referring to here?
Everything really. If the first chapter of a book sucks, if a movie starts with a long roll of credits or some idiotic premise. Even YouTube channels I used to watch, if it doesn’t capture my attention right away I know where to find content that will. I’m Even learning to do it with the internet and Lemmy over the last couple of months with AI. I can quite literally program friends, experiences, and ask plain text questions and get good answers with cited sources using open source offline AI. It is not about my attention span, it is about the efficiency of the modern world.
Although I can understand your sentiment, I have to disagree with you.
Some things take time before you can really enjoy it. Your mention about the first chapter of a book struck me the most. For me, I always told myself I would read the first 80 - 100 pages of a book before I would really give up on it. Some things just take time to establish a plot, mood, or just to get things up to speed. It’s worth the effort to work your way through a maybe rough beginning to get to the good parts later on.But, we could just be different people with different speeds. So you do your thing if that makes you happiest :)
I find myself researching movies, books etc. before I read them so I can see if they’ll suit my tastes. Then, even if they start slow I know generally I’ll enjoy them and it’ll be worth the initial investment. I think that helps improve my attention span because my patience is then rewarded.
