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   Alonealastalovedalongthe (alonealastalovedalongthe@toot.cafe)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 06:36:41 JST Alonealastalovedalongthe

   Gotta love how it is STILL a trope that social media, smartphones and technology are destroying our attention spans while simultaneously young people have mostly replaced getting their knowledge from vanishingly brief snippets of talking heads on massive news channels or radio stations with a constellation of media all the way from short tiktok videos to multi-hour youtube essays on gender or politics.

   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: and clacke like this.
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     Alonealastalovedalongthe (alonealastalovedalongthe@toot.cafe)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 06:36:45 JST Alonealastalovedalongthe

     in reply to

     Like the fuck.. some of the most successful youtube creators in terms of cultural impact regularly make 3 hour videos on shit and young people gobble it up like candy.

     It is just downright absurd to say social media is destroying our attention spans at this point.

     I know I have made this kind of post before but it is just becoming more and more obvious as content creators settle into niches of making multi-hour deep dives into complex topics and the trend shows no signs of stopping.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: and clacke like this.
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     Alonealastalovedalongthe (alonealastalovedalongthe@toot.cafe)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 06:36:58 JST Alonealastalovedalongthe

     in reply to

     • Sabogato (they/them)

     @sabogato

     Those people self reporting short attention spans should worry less about their attention span being permanently eroded by technology and more about why they are so beaten down and exhausted that the only thing they have energy and focus for is mindlessly scrolling.

     The reason people say "I can't read a book anymore" has nothing to do with their brains (for the vast majority of cases) and everything to do with the amount of stress, anxiety and exhaustion daily life throws at them.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: and clacke like this.
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     Sabogato (they/them) (sabogato@sunbeam.city)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 06:36:59 JST Sabogato (they/them)

     in reply to

     @Alonealastalovedalongthe I'm guessing the folks complaining about short attention spans are self-reporting.

     They're likely completely unaware of long video essays and of the young people watching them.

     The complainers are going by their own experience of endlessly scrolling Facebook. They assume that is what everyone does, and they're projecting.

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     Frank T (franktaber@mas.to)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 06:37:01 JST Frank T

     in reply to

     @Alonealastalovedalongthe Very true though I worry about the three hour far right conspiracy rabbit hole videos that are just as popular.

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     Saxnot [38C3] (saxnot@chaos.social)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 06:37:04 JST Saxnot [38C3]

     in reply to

     @Alonealastalovedalongthe good point

     add Podcasts to that list too.

     clacke likes this.
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     Alonealastalovedalongthe (alonealastalovedalongthe@toot.cafe)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Mar-2024 14:44:18 JST Alonealastalovedalongthe

     in reply to

     • Sabogato (they/them)

     @sabogato

     I actually think the Mindless Scroll is a wonderful coping tactic for getting some modicum of enjoyment out of life when you are far too exhausted to otherwise get any enjoyment out of life.

     This isn't to say that corporate social media isn't designed like cigarettes to get people unhealthily addicted, but I think it is a conceptual mistake to think of the Mindless Scroll as inherently unhealthy like smoking cigarettes is.

     The Mindless Scroll is a symptom not the disease.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.