A new study confirms what everyone is feeling about social media, the internet, and the ubiquity of short little video snippets: our brains and attention spans are getting absolutely cooked.
Researchers from Griffin University analyzed 71 other studies and data from 98,299 participants, and concluded that short-form videos (SFVs), such as TikToks or Instagram reels, are making people’s attention spans worse.
“Overall, this meta-analysis revealed a consistent pattern linking higher SFV use with poorer cognitive performance, particularly in attentional control and inhibitory processes,” the researchers wrote. “These associations may reflectcognitivestrainoremergingdisruptionsincognitive endurance and attentional regulation among heavier SFV users. Given the central role of attention and executive functioning in academic, occupational, and daily goal-directed tasks,thesepatternsmayindicatebroaderdifficultiesinsustaining mental effort over time.”
“Tasks requiring prolonged concentration (e.g., reading comprehension, complex problem solving) may be more difficulttosustain,especiallyasSFV platforms reinforce brief, high-reward interactions through rapid feedback and algorithmic content delivery,” the study continues.
Alas. For most of us, this conclusion isn’t all too surprising. We have all felt this way about social media at one point or another, or at least know people have become addicted to these videos, much to their detriment. Personally, I have found that I no longer possess as strong an attention span as I did before social media became video-dominated. It can flutter if something I’m trying to focus on doesn’t pique my interest. I can still spend a couple of hours reading a book, but I have to take smaller breaks, and I need to be naturally curious about the book. Back when I was in college, before I started using X daily, I could sit in a library in dead silence with a 700-page book and not bat an eye for hours on end. I could focus on a task, paper, or project, without flipping through a slew of unrelated internet tabs. Now, thanks to social media and the internet, even focusing on a book I love has become more difficult.
Although this study is tragically predictable, it’s still worth thinking about the long-term consequences of our drastically shortened attention spans and endless social media addictions. How does it affect our personal lives and relationships? How does it affect our career goals? How does it affect our politics?
Michael Brendan Dougherty of National Review wrote a fascinating, if a bit disturbing, column back in July on this very idea: if we are all collectively addicted to social media and TikTok videos, and American “culture” is now being created by “giant buzzing colonies of internet influencers,” how are we ever going to preserve the best things that remain of civilization? How are we going to rebuild once-trusted institutions, like Congress, for example, or churches and religion, or public health, if we are constantly paranoid and short on attention?
“The last inherited habits of civilization are giving way to the onset of paranoia, distrust, and desperation for answers. Most things you thought were solid in our civilization have been vaporized and evacuated,” Dougherty writes. “The second you lean on these structures, they fall apart.”
“If we’re going to conserve anything through this period,” he continues, “it’s going to require heroic work and institution-building. Which will require trust, and trust implies some agreement on the deep values. But how can that be achieved when most thoughts are flattened into 15-second video shorts on TikTok and Instagram Stories? God help us.”
There are no easy answers to these questions, of course. It’s not like we can simply nuke the servers and return to a time, pre-internet, when our society felt more cohesive and trusting. That’s as utopian as hoping that technology, particularly AI, will lead to a future in which humans no longer have to work, and, with all of our newfound free time, we can focus on our romantic relationships, taking care of our kids, and pursuing our hobbies and creative passions. Social media and the internet are proverbial genies that have escaped the bottle. Going back is not an option.
But we can still try to cultivate our own little villages of civilization. In what free time we do have, we can still force ourselves to spend more time reading, immersed in a physical hobby, or outdoors in nature, and less time glued to our screens. We don’t have to give our kids iPads to keep them happy and preoccupied at the dinner table; we can give them crayons and coloring books. We can still make small, conscious choices in our daily lives to keep from going crazy.
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