The Shrinking Attention Span
How many of you have thought about the shrinking attention span of the American public?
Not just social media and millennials, but every single person!
The deep-thinkers out there most likely have noticed that the “average” attention span of a typical person out and about has dwindled to nanoseconds.
What’s going on, people?
Has conversation died?
Over the past half-decade, I’ve paid very close attention to not only my own interactions with people but with countless others as well.
From my own perspective – I’ve witnessed the “ability” to listen to other people speak almost vanish.
The necessity to “interrupt” someone speaking has reached an all-time high. Rather than “listening” to a human beings viewpoint on a particular subject, most conversational participants now INSTANTLY interrupt another person the moment they hear something that isn’t congruent with their own thoughts.
After that, the conversation dissolves and turns into a non-productive “debate” or whatever you want to call it.
What is listening? Why does it matter?
Well, first off, listening isn’t just “hearing” someone else. It’s about UNDERSTANDING their perspective. Not just from your shoes, but from their shoes as well.
Secondly – listening is not just about that understanding – but it’s also about CONTEMPLATING about their thoughts as well.
Those things often take time to “digest” in order to TRULY understand a collection of words and feelings.
In other words, you take those tidbits of information back into your brain – and contemplate about them (cook, stew, simmer if need be), and reach a conclusion at a later date.
NOT ALL ideas, thoughts, opinions or scientific theories NEED an immediate response “YAY” or “NAY,” you know what I mean?
TODAY? Everything demands an instant respose
For this – I have no problem “blaming” the effect that technology has had on society as a whole. We’re used to instant responses and answers. “Googling” our lives down the toilet bowls.
Can you see how that has radically changed how people converse? Or even just use their minds?
ALSO, conversations today are “nuggetized” – no long-term philosophical battles
Back in the day – people promoted ideas. They hashed them out. They fought for their ideals.
People had philosophical ideas that they debated. Those ideas shifted, changed, were fluid for the most part. People accepted their wrongs and rights quite nobly.
And also – hardly anyone needed a subject to “be settled” on the spot. Most folks were okay for topics to hold an ongoing “undecided” status while the debate continued. It was part of the fun and mystery about coming to a formidable conclusion about that point.
Today – most conversations are polarized. Everyone thinks they “know” everything. And you’re either on “this side” or “that side.” Anyone that brings up great ideas why one, the other or BOTH are wrong – is ushered out of that virtual room.
That is horrible and detrimental to society as a whole.
About Hoboken411
We’ve been “blogging” as Hoboken411 since before Twatter and Fakebook infected the masses. Back in 2005, it was all about politics and other bullshit in and around Hoboken, New Jersey (and the tri-state NYC area in general). But since those social media “apps” have amazingly coerced the majority of the populous to “blog for free” (to make Fuckerberg insanely wealthy) we’ve taken a slightly different approach. We talk about whatever the fuck we feel like talking about (including some things in Hoboken). But our main objective is to slap the “mentally-enslaved morons” (as Mark Dice eloquently says) upside the face with a dose of reality. We know full well that most people won’t be receptive to our ideas all the time. But feathers get ruffled to this day still – which means (as they say in the medical industry): “It’s working!”
“Today – most conversations are polarized.”
In most cases, the conversations are not allowed to take place. The country IS taking sides …..seething.
Affluence brings about the luxury of bullshit. Being an affluent country, the US has an abundance of bullshit. At one time, people had to actually focus and plan in order to survive, now they just run to the local grocery store or Walmart to get everything they need. No long-term investment required. Farming skills like hunting, gardening, husbandry, etc. taught people to pay attention and get it right, or else. Nowadays, no need. THAT is the basic reason for short attention spans, as well as much of the mental illness in our society, long term cognitive dissonance is deadly.
We are headed toward Idiocracy.
Yes. That is the truth in so many ways. Frankly, the reason we are so collectively stupid is because we are allowed to be due to the luxuries we enjoy. Why do you suppose that the original great depression generation was so resourceful? They HAD to be. No excuses, just starvation.
A hungry belly, and no place to live has a tendency to focus the mind in ways that Twatter and Farcebook just don’t.
BTW, this is the PURPOSE of recessions, just like forest fires, they clear dead wood. We have not been allowing anything to fail for so long that the dead wood is building to the point of stifling the new growth. We NEED a big forest fire, then new growth will come.
I was going to comment but I got distracted.
Actually, I think you are wrong about everything in your essay, so I am going to take my ball and go home and you are not my friend anymore.
My sister-in-law has a problem with me, she says I am stubborn and opinionated. We are not allowed to talk about politics around her, even though we agree, ohhh I would guess more than 80% of the time.
“Actually, I think you are wrong about everything in your essay, so I am going to take my ball and go home.”
That’s sarcasm / humor …. right?
If not, are you smoking weed?
Oh, Stucky, I thought about adding /sarc but I figured I didn’t need to. That’s the second time, so I guess I will try not to forget the next time.
Stucky is so smart, he borders on stupid. I got your joke about getting distracted, good one.
EC
And that’s why I luv ya, EC.
Been noticing this for quite awhile. If I am going to relate a story or an issue that involves some time to explain, I have to talk very fast and with much expression, shocking phrases, and gestures to keep the person’s attention.
Damn if I don’t feel the same way.
I notice that too. Had some acting training one summer as a kid, sometimes I have to “script and stage” my conversation to be heard.
Another ploy is to loudly stutter and everyone gets quiet and starts listening to you, LOL.
Robert (QSLV)
Sucks that people have to put on a “show” to have a meaningful conversation. There has to be a better way. Shit, I go weeks, sometimes MONTHS in-between finding people who have formidable conversational skills. You know, the basics – like eye contact, attention span, etc.
I’ve said this many times in the past – the human psychology is so easily shifted by society (and the controllers) it’s fascinating.
I talked to this girl at the register of some liquor store. I asked her what she was pecking away at on her phone. She told me she just “reposts” crap on Facebook or Instagram.
That is the mental capacity of people in their early 20’s. Just reposting nonsensical shit.
Welcome to 2018.
Nice post Ho Bo Ken.
Short attention spans started with the invention of two things; the TV remote control, and instant coffee. You’ll have to think about it to see the truth of it.
Fast forward to 2017 ….. with billions of vids, articles, web sites …. you generally have 10 seconds, or less, to get the moran to keep reading / watching / listening.
For example, I used to give ‘i forget’ five seconds … now he’s up to 13 seconds.
pretty sharp Stuckster (wonder how many will get it)
It probably goes way back. But definitely, the passive lifestyle has A LOT to do with it.
Possibly some sort of indirect proportional relationship to “literacy”?
The 8-second sound bite. Replaced by 140 characters. To be replaced by? …
Facts take up room, space, and air time.
Who needs facts anyway?
Ock and Grok got along just fine without them.
My wife has that habit and has for years. I got sick of it and told her that I didn’t appreciate getting talked over and that I didn’t think that her mother appreciated it either. She, of course denied it. A while later i complained again, explaining that is made it very difficult to complete a thought. She explained, and this is the important part, that if she waited until I was done talking she would forget the point that she wanted to make.
It isn’t about being rude all the time. Sometimes it is, but I suspect that mostly it is about people who can’t hold a thought in their heads long enough for someone else to finish their thought. So they blurt out what is in their heads before it leaks out of their ears.
Rob….your wife’s statement is true, but you have to resolve the issue somehow, cuz she is wrong with the interruptions.
Hollywood, if your SO is female, interruptions are normal and expected. Women are also intuitive, they know what you are going to say before you get even one word in edgewise, they read you like a book; in your case, a comic book.
It’s also possible deafness plays a role here; Hollywood, role – get it? Interrupting conversations and pumping up the volume on the TV when Salt and Pepa are not on is another sign of hearing problems. Considering you ride Harleys, it’s a big possibility ‘she’ has lost a few frequencies.
The damn parrot has been enabling you two by repeating everything and thus saving the ‘wifey’ from having to say WHAT? after everything.
FYI – it’s also sick relationships between parents as well. My GF hates her horrible mom, but acts EXACTLY like her. Fuck me sideways.
In my experience it’s about lack of respect of another’s opinion.
When I get cut off, it is usually because the person I’m speaking to “assumes” they know what I am about to say (lack of respect) and states their opinion against what they thought was my opinion.
It’s just the evidence I see all around me that educating is a lost cause; opinions are formed and conclusions are made without any information being passed from one to another. Sad.
As a kids Sunday school teacher, I found the best way to teach is to listen to the children. When they see you are interested in them, they become more than happy to be taught the lesson. It’s the same for all people, unfortunately listening is a dying art in this day and age.
The ‘lack of respect’ is myopic
Is respect earned or is it given?
To the previous three comments – respect is a lost art. Respect doesn’t need to be earned in 140 characters or 8-seconds either. Respect can be earned over time, with no single event either earning it or dismissing it. Respect is more a long-term credential. Such as when someone, who appeared pedestrian for much of the time – steps up when it matters, etc. Respect also comes in many flavors and levels. I think “respect” is a relatively abused word.
Old school. I was taught to respect my elders and authority. So for my life, respect is a given. In the military I was told to respect rank; again a given. But a given is not permanent, as it can be taken away if a trust in someone is lost and may take years to restore. Or as trust is confirmed, respect is earned and grows as trust is established.
It’s been useful as a rule for my life in keeping me out of trouble and in interacting with others and something the world can use a little more of.
But I’m old school, maybe in this age of militarized police departments and with minorities and special interest groups demanding the giving up of my rights for the collective, maybe I’ll teach my daughter to not be so offering of respect until it can be proven it has been earned.
We are so polarized we don’t want to hear their shit anymore. That is why we have short attention spans. As the article says we are choosing sides.
Watch a neighbors TV flash from a few hundred feet away. The frame changes every few seconds. Even with a story, the digital story tellers have to flip the page to a new pic every three seconds just to get people to remain seated in their chair. We’re all just monkeys looking for shiny objects. Except me, anyway. I’m looking for cool objects.
Huh?
Whut?
Meh…