How Technological Change Shortens Your Attention Span

Young people’s culture has always been faster than the culture of
older people. Older people process information slower than young
people do because, as we age, we have fewer and less efficient neurons.
However, in recent years, technological innovation has encouraged
young people’s attention spans to shorten and the generational
gap in processing speed to grow.
In particular, the electronic media make it possible to cater to
the neurological advantages that young people have over older
people. When Sesame Street became a huge TV hit in 1969,
part of its appeal was that it made its story segments shorter than
those on other children’s programs. Decades of research by the
Children’s Television Workshop suggests that shows like Sesame
Street condition children to regard brevity as normal. The widespread
adoption of the personal computer and the Internet
in
the 1980s and 1990s reinforced the need for speed. Quick information
gathering, instant communication, and rapid-fire gaming
were once considered spectacular. Now they are routine.
The speed with which teenagers check Facebook, channel
surf, listen to music, and engage in instant messaging often bewilders
parents, who are unable to process what appear to them
to be lightning-fast events. Many teenagers seem unable to listen
to an entire song without becoming distracted. They often
use MP3 players to skim songs, listening to each for less than a
minute. A fast-paced media- and technology-rich environment affords
plenty of opportunities
to multitask.
At clubs, DJs playing
for a young crowd find
it necessary to mix
songs quickly to maintain
a tight dance floor
and excite people. In
contrast, quick mixing
represents information
overload for an older
crowd, which quickly
becomes irritated unless
the DJ plays songs in their entirety. Thus, although built on
neurological foundations that have always separated younger
from older generations, shortening attention spans have been
nurtured by technological change in the electronic media.
Culture as Constraint
We noted previously that culture has two faces. One we
labeled freedom, the other constraint. On the one hand,
diversity, globalization, the rights revolution, and postmodernism
are aspects of the new freedoms that culture
encourages today. On the other hand, cultural lag, rationalization,
and consumerism act as constraining forces.
Cultural Lag
Cultural lag exists when change in material culture outpaces
change in values and other aspects of symbolic
culture (Ogburn, 1966 [1922]). Cultural lag reduces
freedom in American society today.
Almost everywhere, the speed of scientific innovation
is increasing, and it takes less time for technological
innovations
to penetrate the market than it used to (see Figure 2.4). The effects of
rapid change in material culture are enormous. For instance, it seems to be shortening
people’s attention spans (see Box 2.3). In addition, in most rich countries, the growth of
scientific understanding and the accompanying spread of technological innovation have weakened people’s religious faith and accompanying traditional values. However, the
United States is different in the latter respect.
Unlike most other rich countries, the United States has experienced a strong religious
revival emphasizing traditional values over the past few decades (Inglehart and
Baker, 2000). A substantial number of Americans have joined religious organizations,
started attending religious services more frequently, taking their scriptures literally, and
supporting traditional social issues, such as opposition
to homosexuality
(Chapter 11,
“Religion and Education”).
This situation has caused a gap to grow between American
values
and the country’s material culture.
To better understand the significance of cultural lag in the United States, consider official
attitudes toward homosexuality in the military. In 1969, West Germany became the first
country to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. Most other rich nations soon
fell into line, and in some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, homosexuals
in the military are even free to march in uniform on Gay Pride Day. In contrast, because of
cultural lag, the United States became one of the last countries in the world to allow homosexuals
to serve openly in the military, and as this book went to press in 2011, the policy
had still not been implemented. As this example illustrates, traditional values that constrain
freedom are more deeply entrenched in the United States than in other rich countries.
There is a great irony here. The United States was born in open rebellion against traditional
authority. Its western frontier was lawless. Vast opportunities for striking it rich
bred a spirit of individualism. Thus, the United States developed
antiauthoritarian values
emphasizing
freedom and equality before
the law. To ensure
religious freedom, Thomas
Jefferson
advocated the separation of church and state, and the first amendment of the
constitution enshrined that principle
(Lipset, 1963). America’s delay in allowing homosexuals
to serve openly in the military surprised
many observers because it limited freedom,
reinforced inequality,
and sought to impose unquestioning respect for authority. Surveys
show that most other rich democracies became more freedom loving, tolerant, and critical
of authority in the 1980s and 1990s—in short, more American. Meanwhile, the United
States moved in the opposite direction (Adams, 1997; Inglehart and Baker, 2000). In a sense, we became less American. Our culture became more constraining than did the cultures
of other, similar countries because of political and religious developments here (see
Chapter 11, “Religion and Education,” and Chapter 12, “Politics, Work, and the Economy”).