Social Media:
Harmful or Harmless
for Our Attention Span?

I wrote this article on attention span to bring awareness that our generation’s attention span differs from our parents’ or grandparents’ generations. Before completing research for this article, I assumed it was mainly due to social media and wanted to find out if it is harmful or harmless.

I can remember multiple times when I should be doing something important (i.e., homework, writing, etc.), but instead, I’m scrolling on my phone. Younger generations have an issue with focusing on something for more than a few minutes if their technological device is even in the same room.

Even if we do not have our phone on hand, as soon as we hear that ping, we immediately reach for where our phone is typically. I know if I go to reach for it and it’s not there, my heart sinks to my stomach. Ideally, we should not be that attached to an object like that; however, because we live in such a digital world now, it happens to many generations. In this day and age, close to anything can be digital (i.e., books, maps, music on the go), and that is what is affecting our cognitive space to focus.

If you want to look at my full article, please click the button below. Enjoy!