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our attention spans are doomed

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London, UK
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why does no one seem that bothered…

Two things I’ve noticed recently – both while commuting to work.

For one, that all I ever seem to see these days is people looking down, staring blankly at the screen in their hands.

I’m by no means exempt from this, I regularly catch myself mid-scroll and wonder how long it’s been, but more and more, it appears as though we’re forgetting to engage with our surroundings.

I’ve talked a lot about our progressive detachment from existence during the last few months, both from the perspective of phone addiction and a personal endeavour to be more present, but the worse it gets, the more worried I feel.

An additional sign that this concern had started to build came through my headphones, as I sunk into the seat on the Jubilee line and pressed play to drown out the noise (I’m a walking contradiction, eh).

Listening to my discover weekly playlist, a couple of tunes piqued my interest. The first was a sped up version of a track already produced with TikTok in mind and the second was a fast-paced club edit of an album I love.

Accelerating and remixing music is nothing new – it’s been happening for years – but in tangent with the reality that some of us can’t even watch movies or tv shows anymore without consuming short-form content simultaneously, isn’t it at least a little bit troubling?

That our attention spans have deteriorated to the point where a song won’t get saved if it doesn’t keep up with our ability (or lack thereof) to focus?

What’s ironic is that people are discussing this openly online.

Lately especially, internet users have been sharing their woes in posts, videos, and comment sections, lamenting that they never used to get bored so quickly and that social media is rotting our brains.

They’re not wrong about the latter, given it’s scientifically proven that our digital devices are hindering us from remembering important information and actively destroying our concentration, but what I haven’t really come across yet is a genuine movement to confront this.

Yes, people are speaking about it and, yes, trends have emerged to help them cope with the impulsive habit of drowning in the For You Page, but is this actually doing any enduring good?

Are dopamine menus and dumbphones the answer or do we need to dig deeper?

As always, to achieve tangible change, we’ve got to get to the root cause. In this case that’s the complete and utter oversaturation of modern life.

Because we’re so consistently flooded with stimulation – and distracted from the fact that we are – we aren’t to blame for craving it 24/7, it’s a multitude of factors that are at fault.

With how profoundly they’re ingrained into society, however, I’d be a fool to suggest we look to them for solutions.

For example, I’m not going to advise that we rid ourselves of technology entirely, I wouldn’t be writing this without it.

But what we can do is strive to be considerably more conscious about what we’re interacting with.

If it’s reels, we should limit how many we’re intaking and attempt to contemplate what we’ve seen rather than letting it just disappear into the void.

If it’s the natural world, we should be switching off and absorbing it with all five senses.

Awareness goes both ways. The enemies of our attention spans are here to stay, so it’s our responsibility to adapt and keep a watchful eye on how rapidly we’re losing sight of what matters most: living.

Feature Media Manager & Senior Writer London, UK

Sofia (She/Her) – I’m the Deputy Editor & Media Partnership Manager at Thred, specialising in exclusive articles and live interviews, fashion and beauty with a focus on sustainability, women’s rights, psychedelics, and Latin America. I studied Spanish at the University of Exeter and International Journalism at City, London. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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