The Decline of Attention Spans in the Modern Age

The decrease in modern day populations is something that people are generally aware of, but don’t want to admit. This newspaper quote summarizes the most commonly seen phenomenon: “One video, some Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated slop italian brainrot meme, scroll. Next, some tarot reading for your future love life—where the creator claims they put no hashtags, therefore the universe says it was meant for you, scroll.” Dr. Gloria Mark (PhD) notes that our attention span reached its peak in 2004 at 2.5 minutes, reduced to 75 seconds in 2012, and has been at 46 seconds for the last 5 years, According to a combination of reputable sources, this pattern can be attributed to a variety of culprits. The most obvious, and perhaps the most influential, is the rise of social media. The constant scrolling of short form content is a constant occurrence. People can be seen “using” their phone as they’re in the car, walking in between classes, waiting for a friend to arrive, etc. - preventing any periods of time without external stimulation for the brain. The recently developed generative AI also plays a role. My used NYT article stated that this “easy way out” ultilized by students and workers prevents them from deeply reading into the work that they are assigned. This hinders them from focusing on one topic extensively, thus resulting in an indirect association with this problem. I have experienced this problem firsthand: Whenever I have trouble solving an extremely difficult math question, my first reflex is always to “Ask AI” or to check the answer key, rather than spending more time on the question. The general media seems to both be influenced, as well as encourage, this pattern. For example, I have noticed that there is a visible difference in shot length between videos/ movies shot in recent years compared to those that were made before the 21st century. I also noticed the presence of bright colors, loud noises, and constant movement found in present-day children’s videos that aren’t present in the children’s videos that my parents had saved on their laptop. Companies fit most, if not all, of their advertisements into a short 6 second span, knowing that most people are going to scroll away. Lastly, another source claims that the myth of multitasking has also contributed to our (eventual) downfall. As the name states, multitasking is defined as constantly changing attention between different subject matters. Even though it can be as mundane as texting while watching a video, the brain still has to change its train of thought. This results in a shallow understanding of the topics, as well as trains our brain to continuously search for new topics to engage with when one becomes “boring”.