Don’t blame Tiktok for short attention spans
This week, a 16-year-old from Connecticut racked up a record-breaking 100 million followers on video-sharing app Tiktok, thanks to her dancing abilities. In the space of a year, Charli D’amelio has gone from throwing shapes in her bedroom to global brand.
Not bad for a social media platform that, up until recently, had a 15-second limit on videos posted. This has since been extended to a “long” 60 seconds.
And alongside online tutorials to help users get to grips with such a major transition, come anxious inquiries about whether short or long videos will garner the most attention.
Here’s the (terrifying) verdict of one grassroots expert who has spent a lifetime immersed in today’s youth. “Short is always deemed to be better. You have to understand that today’s kids have such a tiny attention span they literally find it hard to keep watching something – anything – for more than 30 seconds unless it’s amazing,” is the verdict of this particular psychologist.
“Adults don’t understand the effect social media is having on their children; they are addicted to the dopamine rush they get when someone likes their post or a message pops up on their screen – and, as with all addictions, they need to spend longer in order to achieve the same buzz.”
Did I mention this “expert” is my gap-year daughter? Or that her psychology training amounts to an A-level?
Her analysis explains the rage when we confiscate phones or tablets, then. And the general grumpiness after they’ve been hunched over them for too long.
A study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health last August revealed those who checked social media sites more than three times a day had poorer mental health and greater psychological distress than their peers. By 16, 69 per cent of boys and 75 per cent of girls used social media more than three times a day.
There is something deeply unsettling hearing my 18-yearold say that she feels “relieved” she’s not growing up in the “technostress” experienced by her 12-year-old sister.
“It’s not the kids’ fault for being on Tiktok too much,” she concluded. “It’s the parents for allowing it.” Truthfully, can any of us deny it?