4 ms·

I like the theory that the reason attention span has declined is because the demand for quality has hugely increased. Since there are so many blogs, films, boo

I like the theory that the reason attention span has declined is because the demand for quality has hugely increased. Since there are so many blogs, films, books and videos out there, we no longer want to waste time on things that don't entertain or provide value to us. If in the past you might've given in and read or watched through boring parts because there was less options available, now people demand less B.S. and instant value. Because if you don't provide that, there's someone else a click away who will.

fragmede 3y ago
Lord of the Rings. An absolutely genre-defining work, but if you read it, it's really friggin slow and not at all compatible with today's attention spans. It's not a demand for quality, it's a demand to be endlessly entertained without having to invest the time or have the patience to wait for a backstory to unfold. Which is fine, I'm opening my phone to doom scroll for a second too, I just don't think it's quality that's being sought-after, but instant-gratification dopamine-inducting entertainment. It's bad. Until I took the time to retrain my. brain, I couldn't read books because I didn't have the attention span for them.
- eastof 3y ago
  Any tips for this retraining?
  - wizzwizz4 3y ago
    Don't rush to retrain yourself: consider whether things are enjoyable, or just engaging, and give it time.
  - JPws_Prntr_Fngr 3y ago
    Not GP here, but I've gone through a similar brain reset exercise recently. There's no good way to do it, because it's essentially just dopamine deprivation. Caffeine withdrawal, internet withdrawal, gaming withdrawal - whatever stimulus you're using, you take it away and suffer for a while. Quitting my corporate gig has also been massively helpful - our big tech overlords were committing Guantanamo level atrocities on our minds via Slack overload, and I will never return to that kind of environment. I'm barely exaggerating. If you're a podcast kind of learner, Huberman has an episode on this "dopamine fasting" concept.
  - Freak_NL 3y ago
    Read a bit in bed before sleeping, make this a daily habit; leave all electronic devices outside of your bedroom. No screens in bed; let your mind learn to accept that. Start with books you can focus on now, gradually move on to more complex works. Don't feel bad about picking a genre which really draws you in. You don't have to read Dickens on day one (although he is a great writer, older works ask a lot in terms of focus and frame of reference, including some understanding of society back then and there), and it's fine to indulge in Young Adult fiction if that works for you (Harry Potter not too demanding to read, and pretty good too).
- tayo42 3y ago
  It's like an 80 year old book written with an archaic style of English. It wasn't even popular when it came out. Most media from the 1930s to 50s isn't popular anymore. Taste move on. Idk if you can simplify this to attention spans.
- deadbeeves 3y ago
  I think it's more a matter of investment vs. payoff. I read TLotR from beginning to end once and I liked it, but it's such a time sink for so little payoff that I wouldn't do it again. There's so much else I could do with that time instead. I'd rather put the movies in the background while I do something else over the course of nine hours, or maybe reread a specific bit I liked. It's not about instant gratification, it's that we're no longer constrained in our media selection. 70 years ago you might have reread the books right after finishing them because you had nothing else to do. That's not true today.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    The Return of the King is particular has a real structure problem. Multiple endings after the actual ending. And then really the final wrapup/epilogue is in the Appendix. The movie tried to clean a lot of this up--most controversially by axing the scouring of the shire--but still didn't wholly succeed.
    - deadbeeves 3y ago
      To be honest, the scouring is one of my favorite bits because it shows how much the main hobbits have grown over the course of their adventure. I think the multiple endings thing worked better in the book for multiple reasons. For one, you could tell at any time that there was still a considerable chunk left to go, so the narrative didn't create any false expectation that it was about to end. But also, unlike in the movie where it does the usual swelling soundtrack and post-climax wrap-up like it's about to finish but then just continues and does it again, I feel like the book doesn't do a literary equivalent of that at all. It doesn't feel like multiple endings, but rather multiple conclusions to separate story arcs, which is something the books do all throughout. The book is just forced to cram several right at the end, because it has to finish somehow. It's unfortunate that the structure didn't translate well to the big screen, at least not without cutting things out.
      - ghaff 3y ago
        I'm not totally convinced but it's been a long time since I've read the books and at least accept that a book is better able to weave together multiple threads and story arcs than a film easily can.
- the_only_law 3y ago
  I never read lord of the rings. I read the hobbit though. The Tolkien work I struggled with was The Silmarillion. I understand it’s not much like the others and was a posthumous publication, but middle school me struggled to stay interested enough with the way it was structured.
  - jimmyjazz14 3y ago
    I believe the Silmarillion was really more of reference type book originally so yeah not particularly something you sit down and read all the way through.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    I went through a Tolkien phase but, yeah, the Silmarillion was a dutiful struggle.
hkon 3y ago
I think you are confusing quality with quantity. Quantity of dopamine bursts that is
asdff 3y ago
It's not like people are reading high quality things though. They are watching tick tock. There is no demand for high quality work. People aren't reading gonzo journalism books, they are eating up soundbites and clickbait and very pleased about it.
firebirdn99 3y ago
I don't necessarily buy that. TikTok and a lot of content on Netflix, etc is cringe, or some kind of just "grub TV" or "trash TV" if you will. Doesn't stop humans from consuming anything to distract from what they need to be doing, maybe. Or what might be useful, more wholesome. To be sure, trash TV does have qualities, that make people watch them, not necessarily great ones though.
watwut 3y ago
I dunno. I think that quality in movies and tv went down to large extend. Average script is so bad, that basically mediocre dialog gets praise. Fights and tricks are better then before, but other then that, production last years is just meh

fragmede 3y ago

Lord of the Rings. An absolutely genre-defining work, but if you read it, it's really friggin slow and not at all compatible with today's attention spans. It's not a demand for quality, it's a demand to be endlessly entertained without having to invest the time or have the patience to wait for a backstory to unfold. Which is fine, I'm opening my phone to doom scroll for a second too, I just don't think it's quality that's being sought-after, but instant-gratification dopamine-inducting entertainment. It's bad. Until I took the time to retrain my. brain, I couldn't read books because I didn't have the attention span for them.

eastof 3y ago
Any tips for this retraining?
- wizzwizz4 3y ago
  Don't rush to retrain yourself: consider whether things are enjoyable, or just engaging, and give it time.
- JPws_Prntr_Fngr 3y ago
  Not GP here, but I've gone through a similar brain reset exercise recently. There's no good way to do it, because it's essentially just dopamine deprivation. Caffeine withdrawal, internet withdrawal, gaming withdrawal - whatever stimulus you're using, you take it away and suffer for a while. Quitting my corporate gig has also been massively helpful - our big tech overlords were committing Guantanamo level atrocities on our minds via Slack overload, and I will never return to that kind of environment. I'm barely exaggerating. If you're a podcast kind of learner, Huberman has an episode on this "dopamine fasting" concept.
- Freak_NL 3y ago
  Read a bit in bed before sleeping, make this a daily habit; leave all electronic devices outside of your bedroom. No screens in bed; let your mind learn to accept that. Start with books you can focus on now, gradually move on to more complex works. Don't feel bad about picking a genre which really draws you in. You don't have to read Dickens on day one (although he is a great writer, older works ask a lot in terms of focus and frame of reference, including some understanding of society back then and there), and it's fine to indulge in Young Adult fiction if that works for you (Harry Potter not too demanding to read, and pretty good too).
tayo42 3y ago
It's like an 80 year old book written with an archaic style of English. It wasn't even popular when it came out. Most media from the 1930s to 50s isn't popular anymore. Taste move on. Idk if you can simplify this to attention spans.
deadbeeves 3y ago
I think it's more a matter of investment vs. payoff. I read TLotR from beginning to end once and I liked it, but it's such a time sink for so little payoff that I wouldn't do it again. There's so much else I could do with that time instead. I'd rather put the movies in the background while I do something else over the course of nine hours, or maybe reread a specific bit I liked. It's not about instant gratification, it's that we're no longer constrained in our media selection. 70 years ago you might have reread the books right after finishing them because you had nothing else to do. That's not true today.
- ghaff 3y ago
  The Return of the King is particular has a real structure problem. Multiple endings after the actual ending. And then really the final wrapup/epilogue is in the Appendix. The movie tried to clean a lot of this up--most controversially by axing the scouring of the shire--but still didn't wholly succeed.
  - deadbeeves 3y ago
    To be honest, the scouring is one of my favorite bits because it shows how much the main hobbits have grown over the course of their adventure. I think the multiple endings thing worked better in the book for multiple reasons. For one, you could tell at any time that there was still a considerable chunk left to go, so the narrative didn't create any false expectation that it was about to end. But also, unlike in the movie where it does the usual swelling soundtrack and post-climax wrap-up like it's about to finish but then just continues and does it again, I feel like the book doesn't do a literary equivalent of that at all. It doesn't feel like multiple endings, but rather multiple conclusions to separate story arcs, which is something the books do all throughout. The book is just forced to cram several right at the end, because it has to finish somehow. It's unfortunate that the structure didn't translate well to the big screen, at least not without cutting things out.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      I'm not totally convinced but it's been a long time since I've read the books and at least accept that a book is better able to weave together multiple threads and story arcs than a film easily can.
the_only_law 3y ago
I never read lord of the rings. I read the hobbit though. The Tolkien work I struggled with was The Silmarillion. I understand it’s not much like the others and was a posthumous publication, but middle school me struggled to stay interested enough with the way it was structured.
- jimmyjazz14 3y ago
  I believe the Silmarillion was really more of reference type book originally so yeah not particularly something you sit down and read all the way through.
- ghaff 3y ago
  I went through a Tolkien phase but, yeah, the Silmarillion was a dutiful struggle.

hkon 3y ago

I think you are confusing quality with quantity. Quantity of dopamine bursts that is

asdff 3y ago

It's not like people are reading high quality things though. They are watching tick tock. There is no demand for high quality work. People aren't reading gonzo journalism books, they are eating up soundbites and clickbait and very pleased about it.

firebirdn99 3y ago

I don't necessarily buy that. TikTok and a lot of content on Netflix, etc is cringe, or some kind of just "grub TV" or "trash TV" if you will. Doesn't stop humans from consuming anything to distract from what they need to be doing, maybe. Or what might be useful, more wholesome. To be sure, trash TV does have qualities, that make people watch them, not necessarily great ones though.

watwut 3y ago

I dunno. I think that quality in movies and tv went down to large extend. Average script is so bad, that basically mediocre dialog gets praise. Fights and tricks are better then before, but other then that, production last years is just meh