Social media shortens attention spans

As I sit at my usual spot during the 10 minute advisory period, I look around the room to see all but maybe two or three girls with their eyes glued to their phone screens. I unlock my own phone and stare at the familiar yellow and white screen as Snapchat opens. Soon enough, I’m looking through my various contacts’ “ Snap stories.” I feel the need to go through all of them. Even though each video only has a 10-second cap, I frequently skip through stories when I lose interest.

But my losing interest in already brief posts on social media doesn’t end there, and I know I’m not the only one. Social media apps, mostly targeted towards teenagers, can require a very short attention span. Instagram requires a simple double-tap to “like” a photo and move on. Vines only require six seconds of attention. A tweet must be 140 characters or less, which only takes about 10 seconds to read.

Sure, it’s nice to have quick entertainment at our disposal, frequently updated with new posts. But these quick posts are taking a toll on our already short attention spans. It’s embarrassing how often I find myself distracted when reading, say, a ten page assignment. Even watching YouTube videos, I frequently find myself impatient or uninterested after only a couple minutes.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the average attention span in 2013 was 8 seconds long. Social media companies know this, and even cater to it. Snapchat’s new update features 12 icons for various media companies such as CNN, National Geographic and People Magazine. Users can tap on an icon and be satisfied with a ten-second summary of a story, with an option to look at an expanded version of the story.

Snapchat users then only have to take ten seconds to get news. A normal article would already only take about 5 minutes to read. By only requiring a few seconds to become educated, Snapchat is only further catering to teens’ already short attention spans.

Instead of giving into means of education and communication that require only seconds, we should work on forcing ourselves to expand our attention spans. And it isn’t hard, either.

Instead of texting your friend that you haven’t seen, give them a call. Instead of looking to Snapchat for your news, read an article. Rather than simply double-tapping a post on Instagram, barely looking at it or reading the caption, give it some thought. By training ourselves to spend more time taking in information, maybe we could solve problems like lacking face-to-face communication.