Every time I see somebody complaining about how (younger) people consume media today, I’m reminded of a video I saw of somebody talking about the so-called “ADHD Epidemic” and this one comic in it of a kid sitting at a desk in school and staring at a flashing billboard out the window while the teacher was yelling at him to pay attention. His response was, “To what?”
Gen X and Millenials are a product of that environment and it’s gotten worse since the rise of social media. Gen Z and Alpha are growing up in a world of a million points of stimulus attempting to hog their dopamine receptors all at once. Is it any wonder that they can’t focus on any one thing for more than 3 seconds?
All of our attention spans for generations now have been stolen by advertisers looking to make money off of it. The younger generations deserve our kindness for what’s been done to them. Or else we’re no better than those older than us were when we were young.
I’m a millenial (born 1981), and I remember my father (a boomer) complaining about MTV in the 90s and 00s, and how “confusing” it was. He couldn’t fathom how the young people could pay attention to what was being told on the account of how fast and abrupt the cutting was.
Fast forwards to today, and the MTV-style is everywhere: YouTube, TikTok, Reels etc is directly traced back to the fast paced MTV style of cutting.
Every time I see somebody complaining about how (younger) people consume media today, I’m reminded of a video I saw of somebody talking about the so-called “ADHD Epidemic” and this one comic in it of a kid sitting at a desk in school and staring at a flashing billboard out the window while the teacher was yelling at him to pay attention. His response was, “To what?”
Gen X and Millenials are a product of that environment and it’s gotten worse since the rise of social media. Gen Z and Alpha are growing up in a world of a million points of stimulus attempting to hog their dopamine receptors all at once. Is it any wonder that they can’t focus on any one thing for more than 3 seconds?
All of our attention spans for generations now have been stolen by advertisers looking to make money off of it. The younger generations deserve our kindness for what’s been done to them. Or else we’re no better than those older than us were when we were young.
I’m a millenial (born 1981), and I remember my father (a boomer) complaining about MTV in the 90s and 00s, and how “confusing” it was. He couldn’t fathom how the young people could pay attention to what was being told on the account of how fast and abrupt the cutting was.
Fast forwards to today, and the MTV-style is everywhere: YouTube, TikTok, Reels etc is directly traced back to the fast paced MTV style of cutting.
Question is. How fast can we go!?