Shorter attention span

Is it a problem that people seem to have shorter attention spans than they used to? Some 40 years ago I would give TV interviews, trying to keep my answers down to about 40 seconds, and closing with a downturn in the voice to indicate an ending. I found about 20 years ago that interviewers preferred 25-second soundbites, and more recently, that many now prefer short, 12-second answers to each question.

This is fine, because the world seems to move at a faster pace, and people are ready to absorb many small packets of information rather than fewer longer ones. This might be partly down to social media and the internet. We have grown accustomed to putting across what we want to say in brief exchanges.

I write science fiction stories for ‘young adults’ in the 12-14 age group. I read much of the current literature in that genre, and note key differences in what today’s readers expect. In earlier times there would be pages of description setting the scenes, but nowadays young readers want shorter, punchier scene-setting, with most of it covered by dialogue.

Instead of “the orange sun slowly made its way down until a final gleam was extinguished by the waves,” they want, “Hey, look at the sun! It’s like an orange!” “Yes, and look how it’s swallowed by the sea!”

It might seem like a trivial difference, but it indicates a greater sense of urgency and involvement. People don’t want the story fed to them from outside; they want to be part of it while it is happening. And they want it now.

Some commentators think this is a problem, a dumbing down to more primitive levels of understanding. I tend to disagree. The world and the changes it brings move at an ever-faster pace, and this is our response to that fact.

Madsen Pirie