A lil rant here. So there is something I have been genuinely noticing not only online but in person as well. And while I am sure it isn't big news, I have noticed that there is a decline in people who know how to read and write. There are people out there in their early 20s who don't know how to write even two paragraphs, people who can't even sit through a chapter of a book. And it isn't even just with that. When I went to see the new Spider-Man with my family, I saw people pulling out their phones, scrolling through Instagram or whatever and barely watching the movie. I'm sure I sound like a broken record player here spewing something that has probably been said a dozen times, but it's because of the small short content that are reels, tik toks, YouTube shorts, and even some modern kid shows. Their small rapid bursts of content, blips of entertainment that stimulate the brain. I swear parents and schools alike need to start pushing for the exposure of more slow paced content, content that stimulates the brain but at a rate where their attention span can still be relatively strong.
A small expansion on this:
I can't exactly find the study itself, but there was a study done regarding cocoa melon that studied the stimulation of the show itself, as well as kids running to their living rooms to the sound of it on the television. It mentioned how it added stunts on speech development as well as some issues regarding attention as well.
Again, the push for slower paced content would possibly help tremendously. Like, comparing modern shows for toddlers and the ones from say the early 2000s/2010s, modern kids shows have more faster plotlines, with almost constant action and stimulation. This sucks them into what they are watching leaving no room for the brain to properly or fully process what has happened as stuff just keeps happening. So whenever a child or young adult encounters something of a slower pace, they get bored a lot quicker, pulling out phones or losing focus entirely.
However, slower paced shows, with a steady pace of action and or story telling can help with a nice attention span. Depending on what they are watching it can help with finding context clues, keeping the viewer engaged in a way where the brain has time to process events and then anticipate the next one. This is also why reading and writing are essential to early childhood development as well. It creates stronger attention spans, and benefits children academically, with the Child Mind Institute stating that it increases vocabulary as well assisting with speech in some cases.
READ I TELL YOU!!!! Grab a book, hell write a damn poem every day!!! Help your own attention spans!!!
