Question

Technology is the culprit for shortened attention spans

Comments

When there is statements that technology is related to problems relating to the human brain how do you know exactly that is the cause of the problem?

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I think this is a good argument to have. But do keep in mind that when this was studied they may have not looked in to the other external factors that could result in people having a decreased attention span. I would also recommend looking at a website that has more reliable information as only having one source may not be enough to support it. Looking at other websites that connect to studies that relate to this topic can help more with supporting this claim and making it stronger as a whole.

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This is an argument that I agree with since, for reasons that are specific to me, I am unable to concentrate on movies without looking at another screen or going to my phone. Furthermore, I believe that the article does not present a counterargument to the hypothesis that social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok offer educational chances in addition to the potential to advance in one's career.

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This is a strong argument. In recent years, I’ve noticed that content creators tend to produce more short-form content. According to the article, TikTok has played a major role in this, with its platform featuring videos ranging from 5 seconds to 15 minutes. Gloria also mentions that the average attention span of teenagers is around 47 seconds. I believe platforms like Instagram and TikTok should begin promoting more educational content to better utilize their influence.

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Personally, I agree with this claim because I can relate to it. However to be more accurate, I would suggest seeing a website with more trustworthy data, as relying only on that one source isn’t enough to prove your claim 

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I agree, but I feel that there are more reliable sources that you could point to when supporting your claim. For example American Physiological Association has the same claim at https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans.

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The main claim of this article is true, but contains a slight exaggeration. The results of experiments conducted by The University of Chicago concluded that the presence of smartphones causes distraction and a depletion of cognitive efficiency in adolescents.

Answer 1

This is a true statement. along with the claim from the article linked above. CNN Health reported on the topic stating that a professor at the University of California Irvine studying media consumption did a study showing that technology has reduced average attention span from 2 1/2 minutes in 2004 to 75 seconds a few years later. Of course they didn't test every American citizen so whether that is true for all is yet to be known but if the linear relationship lines up, Americans attention spans are only getting smaller from here as technology advances

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/health/short-attention-span-wellness/index.html

Answer 2

The claim that technology is the culprit for shortened attention spans can be seen as true and false. It can be seen as both because within the article, the author Julia Bragg, only mentions specific apps that cause attention spans to rapidly decline. She stated "apps like Instagram and TikTok have contributed to student's shortened attention spans with their short, scrollable nature". Another fact to prove this statement is CBS News put together an article that mentions that we [the people] are constantly holding another device. For instance, if we are watching a television show, you also have your phone in hand. This can be seen as passive consumption. Based on the article that was given for the claim technology can shorten attention spans I would say this can be seen as not true. The term technology is "the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life...". From the article, Julia Bragg is only mentioning certain apps. Technology can be beneficial and not all apps give you the opportunity to scroll endlessly. The article only mentions the trendy apps and not everyone utilizes them. For example, adults can be exposed to an increase of screen time because of technology, but can be seen in a work setting or completing tasks. Technology can shrink attention spans, but ultimately it comes down to the apps you allow yourself to use.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/are-attention-spans-getting-shorter-and-does-it-matter/

https://www.britannica.com/technology/technology

https://www.oxjournal.org/how-does-technology-affect-the-attention-spans-of-different-age-groups/

Answer 3

I think that this article holds an incredibly good point, but yet it fails to mention that it is highly dependent on the type of person who is the user. The article brings great evidence to light, but when the author is addressing it, she addresses it as “the user” which means person to person can differ. Yes, there are other articles that support the original claim of this article, but it seemingly is very opinion based for this specific article.

Answer 4

This is a good argument but other factors do have a hand in peoples short attention spans since everyone is different. An article by Time magazine talks about how technology was made to be a distraction with its content flow of notifications and information it was designed to capitalize on how people think. Due to the affect of notifications it causes humans to pause what they were doing and immediately go to a different task. The more you engage in this the more your brain wants to wander and do different things leading to this constant habit. Though this doesn't really show how someone's attention span changes over time.

Answer 5

The first statistic I saw in the article was that the median attention span is 47 seconds, according to Gloria Mark. When searching for the source of this statistic I found that Mark had made a book addressing the decline of attention span, however there was also a podcast from the American Psychological Association (a valid and established organization) where she discusses her findings. The article agrees with Mark's discussions in the podcast, however Mark gives more attention to the causation of this statistic more than the article does. Another direct source that the article uses is an article from The University of Chicago, which also uses more descriptive evidence to back the "brain drain" claim found in the article. It does seem that this article briefly summarizes the main points which each source is stating without descriptive evidence, however both of these sources are very valid. 

https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462

Answer 6

When people spend a large portion of their media-consuming time on super short videos, their ability to maintain focus and control their attention takes a major hit. One large study looked at over 1,000 college students and found that short-form video addiction was linked significantly to weak attention control. (NIH )They found that viewing these short 15-30 second videos majorly affected their ability to stay focused, shift appropriately, and ignore distractions. In another experiment, researchers found that when people used short-video apps like TikTok as interruptions to other activities, their ability to remember and execute tasks later (prospective memory) dropped heavily compared with people who watched longer videos or none at all.  (ARXIV) The constant habit of switching between clips trains the brain to crave instant novelty and makes it harder to tolerate slower, more mentally demanding tasks.

A review article also argued that social media, especially with rapid‐changing feeds and short clips, “significantly negatively impacts the sustained attention spans of young adults,” and that working memory and cognitive control shrink under heavy usage. (SCIRP ) TikTok’s design emphasizes ultra-quick gratification (swipe, short clip, next clip), which appears to train our brain to expect rapid change and reward. This contrasts with tasks that require focus or deeper thinking. One study explicitly says: “Key findings … indicate that TikTok’s rapid pace and constant stimulation can lead to shortened attention spans, reducing students’ ability to sustain focus during tasks requiring prolonged concentration.” (Research Gate ) Although this research doesn’t necessarily mean every single individual will suffer huge attention deficit, there is a strong link.

Answer 7

The first article I explored was from the American Psychological Association, which was a podcast from a researcher where she compared two different attention span datas from over the years. The first average attention span was from 2002, which was two and a half minutes and then 10 years later in 2012 shortened down to 75 seconds. They also found that later in 2018 an average attention span shortened down to 47 seconds. With this article, it supports the claim that technology is the culprit for shortened attention spans, because as technology advanced, attention spans got shorter. 

The second article that I explored was from the Ox Journal which main points said that technology releases dopamine more to younger age groups, as it provides more stimulation, but also at the same time it shortens those age groups attention spans as well. They also argued that some digital stimulation can improve some forms of attention and cognition by training the brain with different types of stimulation. The evidence so far doesn’t definitively prove technology causes shorter attention spans or ADHD, just that there’s a relationship and it calls for further more rigorous research.