this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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I know everyone wants to rile against the next generations stuff, people said the same shit about the internet, and reddit, and Twitter, now tiktok.
But this article is just regurgitating old articles from other places and throwing tiktok in there because they know everyone over 25 gets riled up just reading the name tik tok.
I saw an interview of a professional on this matter. Unfortunately I don't remember his name but the points he made were thought provoking.
Today we consume more and faster media than ever, but few people ever spent all their time reading alone quietly or even watched TV focusing solely on the program. We listen to radio or a have conversation simultaneously. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors listened to each other's stories while doing small tasks in their homes. Conversations between people flow and change subjects constantly. Almost like TikToks.
The point is that it's nothing new that we engage in a combination of activities and like to surround ourselves with multiple or fast paced sources of information and stimulation.
My personal view is that TikToks being short or fast paced isn't an issue. But there are other aspects that worry me. Social media videos cause many people to develop various degrees of parasocial relationships with the creators, and the content satisfies the need for actual relationships and can make real life and people seem boring.
I'm going to point to a large number of 2 hour + Youtube videos. I can't tell you who's watching them, or if more people are, but there wasn't anything like that 25 years ago. I'll also point to podcasts and the plethora of 3-6 hour or more - isn't Joe Rogan's like 8 hours long? And it's one of the most popular ones.
There's more novels today than ever before, and people reading via Kindle Unlimited and just up and buying them.
Prestige TV is often 60 minutes or 90 minutes, in comparison to 42 being a "normal hour long broadcast show".
There's more kinds of content, but I disagree that the length of consumed media in general is getting shorter and shorter.
I remember seeing something basically disproving the claim that our attention span is getting shorter. Brb searching the source
The Pomodoro Technique has been well known for a while, and things like Vine, TikTok, Shorts are essentially the polar opposite of this and training your brain to be less focused.
TikTok was absolutely chosen because it's the current bogyman, but those types of short content are basically the enemy of your long term focus.
I'm 25 and I'm surprised by how many people I know that are addicted to TikTok and YouTube shorts
Are you suggesting that anything about the internet hasn't reduced attention spans?
Especially as it's becoming more accessible and common for younger people to get more exposure during key points in brain development.
It goes beyond simple accessibility and engagement, if young people are not participating in these social medias it can become harder to connect with your peers - so you're almost socially punished for not embracing and participating in brain rot (all social media, not just Tik Tok).
I have been trying to work on my attention span ever since quitting Reddit. There's this great book I'm reading, it has everything in it that I love, I would have been pulled in if this was 20 years ago (yeah, I'm old). But I find I can only handle about 5 minutes or so before I feel that urge for "fresh" information. It sucks!
No. I'm saying that this is rage bait and been said about everything from rock music to pokemon.
I didn't click on any of the white papers linked inside the news article either, who knows what those Chinese university students put it there...
Bruh, they said it about TV, radio, magazines, even printed books.
There was a time when older generations literally said that the printing press was going to ruin the next generations brains because they'd be reading all the time.
This has been happening for centuries.
Imo there's a fundamental difference between "traditional media" and algorithmic content generation designed to give you continuous endorphin hits (often induced rage) to keep you plugged into a virtual skinner box. I don't think TikTok does it more harmfully than other social media but I do think there's probably harm to all of them.
Ok, but this is a different argument than "ruining your attention span".
How did you come to conclusion they weren’t (mostly) correct? The average attention span is getting shorter every generation, maybe they were right all along ;)
I personally think that needs some definition and study. People are less interested in being bored because they can avoid it. It really depends on what's going on and what the task is. If I'm standing in line, it's not a lack of attention being on my phone. It's a lack of interest in being immersed in staring at the floor waiting in line. If I'm in a meeting of someone talking to hear their own voice, I'm going to look at my e-mail. I guess in the past I zoned out, but neither is indicative of my attention span.
I always see these things not making a distinction on whether someone is actually trying to pay attention or not. I'm also kind of less sure that attention is trained - that your kids attention span is primarily set by whether they watch TikTok vs full Disney movies. This seems like a bit of a facile comparison.
For instance, if I'm actively working on something, I can pay attention to it for at least a few hours. It's just that I'm often blocked, waiting on another person or process to complete. Or I'm actively responding to e-mails, which again looks like blipping from task to task, but really isn't. Of course, I'm not a kid, but I recall all the "soundbites rather than analysis" from the 90s when I was a teen.
You know what I did before the internet? Be bored. A lot. It was fucking boring. It was unbearably dull. If people want to fill their lives with tiktok when they are waiting at a bus stop instead of just staring into nothing, more power to them.
I used to watch boring, crap fucking TV just because there was four TV channels and it was raining outside. Already read all my books twice over. Awful.
Alright, doesn’t mean it didn’t lower your attention span. Just that you’re less bored :D