Gen-Z’s dwindling attention span is catered to by pocket-sized content, such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and various other scrollable apps. Sped-up songs, loud sound effects, multiple screens, eye-catching visuals, and constant stimulating content cranked out at a shockingly fast pace, are all available in one small device. Clickbait titles have always been apparent in media, but new forms of videos cut and pasted together have captured Gen-Z’s attention.
Delving into the realm of TikTok short stories and shows, there is one clear format in each video: a piece of usually reposted content with AI-generated captions overlapped with another piece of media playing at the same time.
According to research conducted by Microsoft in 2015, Gen-Z’s attention span is a mere eight seconds. It is no surprise, therefore, that many teenagers and young adults prefer multitasking entertainment.
“When I watch movies, I like to play games sometimes,” Langley Freshman Gemma Shi said.
Like Shi, many Gen-Zs experience the stimulation of games paired with a movie that divides attention constantly, causing the brain to constantly tune back and forth from an intense hands-on game to a relaxing movie.
According to a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine, Americans in their early twenties used their phones an average of 28.5 hours a week in 2020. The increase was likely due to the amount of time spent at home because of the pandemic, but it is unclear whether the average fizzled out after the pandemic ended or if it left a lasting impact on the younger generation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that children ages eleven to fourteen average nine hours a day in front of a screen, while ages fifteen to eighteen average seven and a half hours a day. CDC’s report sparks a question on whether Gen-Alpha’s attention span will be shorter than Gen-Z’s. Millennial parents, with their screen times already at a high of 7.2 hours, appear to be fostering a new generation that is raised by tech and screens.
In some cases, parents tend to turn towards sending their children off with a device when they are occupied.
“Because Gen-Z is constantly being introduced to new opinions and takes, we, as a generation, are very gullible,” Cooper Middle School student MJ Roman said. “When consuming media, we often lose sight of the smaller details that make up the bigger picture.”