In today’s generation, there has been an uprising in the consumption of students and young adults taking in short-form content and entertainment.
Even though this is normalized due to the socializing and entertainment aspect of technology, constantly taking in short-form content can be very detrimental to one’s health and ability to concentrate.
An example of this is the popularity of TikTok and Instagram. The typical duration of a video on TikTok is between 5 and 60 seconds—and the same can be said for Instagram.
Depending on how much time one spends on social media, only taking in quick and short media can eventually harm their attention span and concentration time.
I relate to this because after hours and hours of being on TikTok (and just on my phone in general), I often find it hard to concentrate when reading books and being engaged during an activity of my choice.
It is easier for me to get trapped in my phone because of its versatility, rather than getting trapped in a book, which I was able to do years ago.
This demonstrates how TikTok and Instagram reels cause us to crave instant gratification, which adds to the harmfulness of losing our attention span.
Instead of picking up a book or indulging in a favorite hobby, social media takes all our attention and gives us immediate dopamine, even if it is not received healthily.
Also, this constant consumption of short-form digital media affects our learning and critical thinking abilities.
Content taken from social media is quick and direct, deterring us from needing to use our brains and taking the time to do research on various topics.
Embarrassing enough to say, there have been times when I have used TikTok as a search engine, instead of just taking a few minutes to search a topic up on Google because the information on there is quick to access.
The uprising usage of AI can also contribute to this problem: students and young adults have free access to artificial intelligence apps and websites, so it is much easier for our generation to get caught up in the advances of artificial intelligence, especially since it is prompted to give us information on whatever we need in the moment.
With all that being said, it is not too late for us to correct or simply monitor our consumption of short-form digital media. It would be unrealistic to recommend someone to cut out all short-form content and entertainment; it is nearly impossible to do so.
The problem is not the content itself, rather the way we consume it in amounts that are harmful to our thought processes.
