The snippet generation
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Long-form entertainment is out and snack-sized media is in for the next generation of kids, teens and young adults.
Why it matters: Smartphones, social media and constant internet access have changed the way we think — and that’s eroding young people’s willingness to focus.
- "Boredom comes much easier now," says Bonnie Nagel, a behavioral neuroscientist at Oregon Health & Science University.
Driving the news: English professors across the country say college students are struggling to finish books, The Atlantic reports. That’s in part because middle and high school teachers have noted kids’ attention problem and started assigning poems, short stories or excerpts of books instead of full works.
- Kids shows are getting shorter. Episodes of Bluey, one of the most popular kids shows, are about seven minutes long on average, Vulture notes.
- Pop songs are simpler, shorter and more repetitive to give them a better chance of going viral on TikTok and Instagram in snippet form, Forbes reports.
Zoom out: Studies have linked excessive screen time to problems focusing in kids.
- All of us — including kids and teens — have a world of entertainment at our fingertips, and we can just keep scrolling if something doesn’t grab us.
- "There’s an adaptation of our attention to require rapid content change or really exciting content," Nagel says.
It's not that young people today aren't learning.
- They are arguably processing more information on a wider variety of topics than older generations did at the same age.
- But absorbing all that information in bite-sized pieces can prevent them from sharpening their focus.
The stakes: "In life there are going to be many times where we’re going to have to pay attention to slower things or things that are more boring, where our attention skills are going to be required," Nagel says.
- "This is creating real problems for teachers," says Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. "We all lose if teachers feel like everything needs to be this snack-sized presentation."
- These trends also raise questions about the next generation’s ability to focus in the workplace.
- Plus, the turn toward shorter, snappier content means young people might miss out on a great deal of art — from epic novels to slow-burn movies.
What to watch: We know that kids and teens’ willingness to pay attention for long periods of time is dwindling, but the research doesn’t show — nor is it likely — that kids are any less able to focus than their parents or grandparents, Willingham says.
- Learning to pay attention is just another skill that kids growing up in the world of devices and social media might have to work harder to hone.
