#attention-span — Public Fediverse posts

Do y'all remember when the internet used to be made up of blogs? When people had the attention span and the space in their day to just read things? The internet used to still feel magical enough that people would just spend time in their day, clicking around to various websites and reading the blogs and articles produced by everyday, regular people.

Not highly refined content made by people who turned the internet into their jobs. Just regular people, spitting out writing that had typos and was basically just okay. But for all the professional things that it *wasn't*, the one thing that it *was* is human. It was human. It wasn't corporate or professional. It wasn't designed like TV, to fill a void in your heart.

It was just something really interesting, and you could nourish your brain with.

I wasn't involved in the blog scene when it was really happening, I was too young, but I've witnessed those sites since then, the ones that are still around. I really think it would be cool if we could find a way to return to that kind of culture. Reading things, interacting, referencing the websites of other individuals. I want that indie culture of the internet back. Why is everyone I follow some giant celebrity who does content creation as their full-time job? Where's the authentic humanity in that?

If you run a blog, or know any good blogs that you follow, feel free to link them below. Specifically ones run by individuals that aren't some marketing funnel for a side gig.

#blog #enshittification #attentionSpan #newGoodInternet #indieWeb

DATE: August 7, 2026 at 09:25PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Teen cannabis use linked to slower memory and thinking growth

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260806050726.htm

Teens who start using cannabis may experience slower growth in memory, attention, language, and processing speed. Their abilities often developed normally at first, then began leveling off while nonusers continued improving. THC appeared to be the most likely driver, especially for worsening memory.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260806050726.htm

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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #TeenCannabis #MemoryScience #CognitiveDevelopment #THCImpact #YouthHealth #AttentionSpan #MemoryDecline #ProcessingSpeed #CannabisResearch #AdolescentHealth

Writing Slow in a Fast Place https://shahblog1.wordpress.com/2026/08/01/writing-slow-in-a-fast-place/ #AttentionSpan, #Blogging, #DigitalLife, #ReadingHabits, #Writing, #Writing-tips

Movies and the Attention Span
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/07/movies-run-time-attention/687994/?utm_source=feed
As young people struggle to sit through even an hour of a film, modern blockbusters are getting longer.
#mix #film #attentionspan

Modern Friendship: Two Coffees, Zero Conversation

You know, I met up with my buddy, Jeff, the other day. We used to be so close, always hanging out, shooting the shit, but now? We might as well be living on different planets! I mean, we arranged this whole thing, he came all the way across town, fought for a parking spot, waited in line for these overpriced coffees… and why? So he could sit there and scroll through TikTok for two hours straight!

I’m not even exaggerating! I get there, I say “Hey, what’s up?” He goes, “Yeah bro, crazy.” Then he starts showing me these videos, “Bro, look at this!” “Dude, check this out!” Every single one starts blasting at full volume, of course.  You’ve got a baby laughing, then suddenly it’s some guy screaming about stocks! I’m sitting there thinking, “What the hell is going on?”

He’s got these headphones too, they’re just sitting there on the table. Decorative headphones, that’s what they are! But nooo, we can’t have those. We gotta share his little algorithm with the entire café! The waiter, the couple next to us, probably people across the street – they’re all part of Jeff’s For You page now!

Imagine you’re just trying to enjoy your chai latte, reading a book or something. Then all of a sudden, you’re subjected to some teenager’s fitness routine, complete with screaming motivational music! And you, trying to have a private conversation with your girlfriend? Tough luck, because now you’re also a financial advisor!

And Jeff just keeps scrolling, scrolling, scrolling! I’m like, “Hey man, what’s new with you?” He barely hears me, just goes “Yeah, bro, crazy,” then hits me with another Reel. One minute it’s a dog barking, the next it’s some dude speaking in robot voices! I have no idea what’s happening anymore!

So here I am, shouting over his phone just to be heard. It’s like trying to talk to a toddler in a candy store! Finally, I tell him to turn it down. He does… But you know what’s really crazy? He’s actually enjoying this! He gets excited when the volume kicks up again. Like he’s living for the chaos!

And we’re not even the only ones! Everyone’s doing this now. Sitting in cafes, not talking to each other. Just staring at their phones, pretending they’re “charging” or whatever. “Oh yeah, we’re still friends. Look, we’re in the same room! See how we’re not looking at each other?” What a crock of shit!

I mean, these apps are clever. TikTok, Instagram Reels… they know how to keep us hooked. You think you’re just scrolling for fun, but really they’re playing mind games! Before you know it, you’re watching some 19 year old beside a rented sports car tell you how to manage your money. “Work on your side hustle, bro! Be your own boss!” What the fuck do you know about that?

And don’t get me started on all the crap we save for later! Recipes we’ll never make, workouts we’ll never do, dream holidays we’ll never afford. It’s like a graveyard of good intentions up in there! Meanwhile, we’re supposed to be friends. You know what we actually talked about? “Yeah, bro, crazy.”

But you know what the real kicker is? He messages me afterwards. “Good seeing you bro. We should do this more often.” Then he sends another video. I open it… and it starts blasting again. Full volume.  In a completely silent room. That’s modern friendship for you…. “Yeah, bro. Crazy”

Welcome to the pinnacle of human achievement: a tech blog teaching you how to stop an AI from repeating the phrase "load-bearing" as if it's some kind of linguistic virus. 🦠 Apparently, the secret involves a 2-minute read, which is either a testament to our attention spans or a deep dive into the art of stating the obvious. 📚🤦‍♂️
https://jola.dev/posts/how-to-stop-claude-from-saying-load-bearing #techblog #AIhumor #languagelearning #attentionspan #statingtheobvious #HackerNews #ngated

🦭 So, there's this "game" where you control a seal named Neil, who presumably has the attention span of a goldfish 🐟 and the excitement of a sloth 🦥. The "controls" are a jumbled mess of random keys, as if designed by a seal flopping on a keyboard 🎹. How about a game where we control the developer to make something playable instead? 🚀
https://neiltheseal.app/ #sealgame #attentionspan #gaminghumor #developercontrol #indiegame #HackerNews #ngated

Fast news. Cartoon for Dutch newspaper Trouw.

#news #NewsCycle #journalism #media #AttentionSpan

🐢 Efficient C++? In 2023?! 😂 A riveting read on CPU cycles that assumes you have the attention span of a goldfish and the patience of a saint. 📈 Dive deep into #infographics because, apparently, nothing screams 'modern' like charts we've been ignoring since 1996. 📊
https://6it.dev/blog/infographics-operation-costs-in-cpu-clock-cycles-take-2-80736 #EfficientCpp #CPUcycles #ModernCharts #AttentionSpan #HackerNews #ngated

The Dandelions

If this entire post appears in the body of your email, click the title to read it in its natural blog setting.

During the grand opening ceremonies of a worldwide sporting event the other day, six military jets in tight formation roared over the stadium, low in the sky, trailing coloured vapour plumes to match the host country’s flag. Their presence lasted but an instant; they weren’t there, then they were, then they weren’t.

It occurred to me that, prior to their arrival, no one in the crowd was likely thinking about them. In the brief moment they were overhead, everyone was. But mere seconds after they were gone, most had likely forgotten all about them again, attention shifted to what was happening next.

I considered the scene analogous to the ever-shrinking attention span of our human species. We tend to focus on what is right in front of us, but only while it’s in front of us. Once it isn’t, we switch attention to whatever is next in front of us. Like scrolling.

Thinking, rather than being a critical, contemplative brain activity, is being reduced to bits and bites lasting only seconds. Reacting, in fact, not true thinking at all. Stimulus/response in place of thoughtful consideration and planning.

We would be doomed, I think, if we were required to focus our whole being on something for an extended period of time, as our distant ancestors had to while stalking game for food on distant savannahs. Had they allowed themselves to be distracted as easily as we do, they’d have starved to death, and none of us would be here today.

Life is much like the appearance of those jets in a way. As individuals, first we weren’t here, now we are, and eventually we won’t be. Collectively, going back perhaps 300,000 years, modern humans, homo sapiens, weren’t here; now we are; eventually, if the fate of other species is any indicator, we may not be.

Science tells us that more than ninety-nine percent of all species of life that have ever inhabited Earth are now extinct. When one considers the enormous number of life-forms still extant and sharing the planet with us today, the overall number of living creatures that once were here and now are not is staggering.

Individually, we are similar to dandelions, if you think of it. We might look out the window one day and spy a dandelion despoiling the pristine, green expanse of our lawn. If we leave it to its own devices, the dastardly weed will grow apace (doubtless in company with scores of comrades); then it will spread its seeds, miniature, white parachutists blown on the wind; and then finally, it will wither and die.

Or, we could choose to interrupt its life-cycle by stomping it under our heel, exposing it to toxic chemicals, uprooting it, or even turning it into wine. Either way—whether we leave it or interfere with it—it wasn’t there, then it was, then it wasn’t.

We are the same. Many of us live out our proverbial threescore-and-ten—some less, some more—spreading our seed as we go, and then die a natural death. Others of us, beaten down ‘neath the harsh heel of neglect and apathy, die prematurely. Still others, afflicted with a wasting disease, perhaps exposed to toxic chemicals intended to stem its progress, slowly wither and die. And still more are violently uprooted from their homes by violence or starvation or natural disaster, and are left to die alone.

Mortality is a subject I think about more often now than when I was younger. I contemplate my own, of course, though I do not fear it. Fearing death is like fearing the sunrise; it’s going to happen whether it’s feared or not, so why waste time dwelling on it? As I wrote in one of my poetic offerings—

I haven’t the time to dwell on life’s finish,
‘Though I know it lurks, that’s certain.
When all has been said, I still look ahead
To life’s next opening curtain.

I confess, however, that the demise of our human species is something I do think about. Not because it will affect me directly; I’ll be long-embarked on whatever journey is next for me by then.

But increasingly, it seems to me, humankind is separating itself into two broad factions: the many drones who think rarely for themselves and react self-servingly to whatever stimuli they encounter, content with the base pleasures they eke out; and the despoilers, fewer in number, who think deeply and conspire self-servingly to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest.

I’m pretty sure there is a third group, much smaller, who think first of others, not themselves, and who fight the good fight against the drones and despoilers. But alas, they are running out of time to win that fight. All harbingers are pointing to cataclysmic changes in the earth’s traditional, heretofore dependable cycles, patterns we have known and depended on for our entire lives.

But the effects of those changes aren’t here yet, not in sufficient abundance to alarm the majority of us. It seems that, as a species, we won’t admit they exist—just as that crowd in the stadium didn’t know about the jets in advance.

We’ll know when the effects begin to announce themselves fully, though—earthquakes, floods, wildfires, drought, increasing temperatures, rising sea-levels, climate-forced migration, and, of course, mass death. We’ll pay attention then.

My fear is that, unlike the other examples I’ve mentioned, where things aren’t here, then are, and then aren’t again, the massive changes rushing pell-mell at us will not disappear. They will linger to become the new normal for millennia to come.

And thus, it is we of whom some far-in-the-future, interstellar observer might say, “Human beings? Yeah, they weren’t there, then for hundreds of thousands of years they were, and then they weren’t.”

I console myself that perhaps the dandelions will survive.

#mwgic #2026 #AttentionSpan #Stereotypes #NeuralProcessing #Biology #Brain #Productivity

In grade school, they would drug you for this.

https://www.leravi.org/staring-out-window-not-procrastinating-brain-integration-18744/

Phone exhaustion. Is it time to bring back the landline?

#attentionspan #technology #mobile #restrictions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4pvvQtnOQ

Maybe I am old man yelling at clouds, but I really couldn't imagine being in school/university now. #Internet, especially mobile internet with its insidious nature, messed up my #AttentionSpan, #patience and #focus ability. I could compare this, I still remember my great focus and motivation in my school years.

I had internet at home when I started high school but rarely used it, only for info searching, not "to spend time there". Halfway in university years (my first Android #smartphone) I had that "scrolling and mobile gaming" phase which noticeably affected my focus ability first time. And in my first year in first serious job I fell into "long commute + much mobile data" trap.

Luckily I never noticed problems with book #reading I sometimes hear of, I still prefer good long novel rather than scrolling. And I feel less guilty when my day mysteriously disappears because of reading instead of mindless web surfing (and immediately forgetting what I found).

But there are some effects I notice regularly. I am easily bored/annoyed/tired on longer work meetings. I can't imagine I could sit on 2 h long lectures again. I can rarely JUST WAIT for something, tram, meeting, boiling water, most times I take my phone. Not mentioning taking phone to toilet, which I ever resisted for few years. And sometimes I have to actively fight against this automatic urge to check web, to get chores done. It also gave me this not so healthy mentality of seeking shortcuts and minimizing/avoiding effort.

I feel affected even when I started scrolling at ~23 years old. I expect children starting in much younger ages, before they develop good discipline and attention span, could have much serious problems.

#scrolling #doomscrolling #web #addiction

In this 60-second snooze-fest about AI permission fatigue, we are treated to the groundbreaking revelation that people tend to skim AI #commands instead of reading them like a Tolstoy novel. 💤 Bravo, you've managed to encapsulate humanity's attention span issues in a game nobody will play twice. 🎮👏
https://llmgame.scalex.dev #AIpermissionFatigue #AttentionSpan #Skimming #GamingHumor #HumanBehavior #HackerNews #ngated

The common foods that are messing with your ability to focus — even if the rest of your diet is healthy

Here’s something to chew on. Brains require nutrients from a variety of f…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #MediterraneanDiet #attentionspan #BalancedDiet #Cognitivefunction #dementia #foodsthatarehighinfat #healthyfats #Mediterranean #popularfoods #UPFs
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2640003/the-common-foods-that-are-messing-with-your-ability-to-focus-even-if-the-rest-of-your-diet-is-healthy/

This Sneaky Food Could Be the Cause of Your Brain Fog

This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Why UPFs May Alter Your Attention SpanGetty/WH Illus…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #MediterraneanDiet #attentionspan #BarbaraCardoso #CliffordSegil #KeriGans #Mediterranean #MonashUniversity #ProvidenceSaintJohn’sHealthCenter #studyauthor
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2626259/this-sneaky-food-could-be-the-cause-of-your-brain-fog/

🎩✨ Ah, the complex machine that is this article—proclaiming the genius of a semi-obscure Soviet hero while simultaneously lauding the #transistors that power our TikTok addiction. 🤔🤖 Never mind, dear reader, that the piece takes longer to read than the average person's attention span can endure in our digital age. 📱📉
https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-worlds-most-complex-machine/ #SovietHero #DigitalAge #AttentionSpan #TikTokCulture #HackerNews #ngated

🎤🚀 Afrika Bambaataa, the 'almighty' hip-hop #pioneer, has left the building at 68. 🙄 #BBC had to remind us 12 times it's the #news, in case we forgot where we were. 📺👉 #RIP, Bambaataa, but also RIP to our attention span navigating BBC's infinite menus. 🤦‍♂️🔍
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2evppm30p7o #AfrikaBambaataa #HipHop #AttentionSpan #HackerNews #ngated

🔧🤖 Behold, the "Context Gateway" – because clearly, AI agents are drowning in their own #verbosity without a superhero cape of "history compaction." 🚀 If only compressing my attention span while reading this was as easy! 📉📚
https://github.com/Compresr-ai/Context-Gateway #ContextGateway #AIagents #historyCompaction #attentionSpan #readability #HackerNews #ngated

I've noticed that whenever I post anything over 100 words, up to half a dozen followers go away (though if boosts occur, then departures and arrivals mostly cancel out). My choice of topic doesn't even make a difference.

Still, I try to write at least 100 words per post semi-regularly, to help me avoid becoming a lazy or superficial communicator. Accordingly, I now declare that I'm developing a new post that'll greatly exceed 100 words.

If that distresses—up to half a dozen of—you, then feel free to leave at this time.

Just want to warn you.

#AttentionSpan

STATE / MINUS 9 / POSITIVE NOISE / ATTENTION SPAN

https://grpunkflyers.notopia.dev/flyers/1573/

Our Phones Are Wrecking Our Attention Span; Here’s What to Do About It – ELLE Canada Magazine – Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle Trends & Celebrity News

Health & Fitness

Our Phones Are Wrecking Our Attention Span; Here’s What to Do About It

Anna Lembke, addiction expert and author of Dopamine Nation, calls smartphones “modern-day hypodermic needles,” as they deliver digital dopamine 24-7 and make users vulnerable to compulsive use. Is a “dopamine detox” the key to breaking the habit?

by : Jennifer Berry– Jan 6th, 2026

I sit down to respond to emails on my laptop. I make it through two messages before I grab my iPhone and open TikTok. I scroll through videos for five minutes (or was it 10?), send a particularly funny video skewering the faux urgency of corporate America to the group chat and put my phone away. Back to emails. A few minutes later, my phone is mysteriously in my hand again, and I’m seeing what’s happening on Instagram. Boring. I check text messages and respond to one. Ooooohhh, has the Ssense sale started yet? I stop myself. What was I supposed to be doing again?

Flashes of TikTok videos about adult women with ADHD are running through my head like a film reel when I remember an ad I was recently served for a habit-building app that promises to cure “dopamine addiction,” among other things. Am I a dopamine addict with a latent attention disorder? Or just the average chronically online (elder) millennial who’s glued to their phone for work and entertainment?

Harvard Medical School defines dopamine as a neuro-transmitter that helps us feel pleasure as part of the brain’s reward system. You know that flutter of good vibes you feel when clicking “purchase” in your favourite shopping app or after you’ve had a good old-fashioned roll in the hay? That’s a release of dopamine, or a “dopamine rush.”

While one can’t technically be addicted to dopamine itself, the role dopamine plays in addiction is very real, says Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic and author of the book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. “Dopamine is the ‘go’ signal,” she explains—the one that tells our brains we should keep doing a particular behaviour. And over time, our brains get accustomed to high dopamine levels, which means we require more intense stimuli to feel the same amount of pleasure. “This leads to tolerance, where now we need more reinforcing substances and behaviours to feel any kind of interest or salience or pleasure at all,” says Lembke. “And when we’re not using, we’re in withdrawal.” This explains why scrolling sessions can get longer and longer—the behaviour needs to escalate to generate the same rush.

Lembke studies all forms of addiction, from drugs and sex to online gambling and digital devices. She’s one of many authors and academics, like The Anxious Generation’s Jonathan Haidt, who caution against our reliance on screens and algorithms and the quick, cheap hits of dopamine they’re laced with.

When I ask Lembke if my habitual phone-grabbing could be an addiction, she doesn’t attempt to diagnose me in a 30-minute interview but says that her threshold for a smartphone addiction would be much higher than what I’d described. (Phew.) “There’s problematic or risky behaviour that I would say most of us fall prey to, even if we’re not meeting the criteria for addiction,” she says. That doesn’t mean treating the device like an appendage is without consequences—like frying your attention span, which it seems to be doing to me.

“These devices have, in a sense, trained our minds to interrupt ourselves, thereby preventing the deep concentration and gratifying flow state—which are in themselves sources of healthy dopamine—we could get into if we weren’t intermittently distracted by these devices.”

“The fracturing of our attention [span] is something that is resulting from our use of these devices,” Lembke confirms. “They’re very engaging. So for our reward pathways, [using them is] soothing and frictionless. It’s not effortful, and it’s an instant feel-good. As a result, we’re not building up the kinds of mental calluses we need to tolerate frustration, to wait for answers, to be uncertain, to tolerate ambiguity.

“When it comes to what you described, that’s a great example of how these devices have, in a sense, trained our minds to interrupt ourselves, thereby preventing the deep concentration and gratifying flow state—which are in themselves sources of healthy dopamine—we could get into if we weren’t intermittently distracted by these devices.”

Lembke suggests that perhaps I’m reaching for my phone (and a quick hit of instant gratification) when I’m encountering something slightly uncomfortable in my work. “If you reflect on distraction and consumption, what you’ll probably observe is that the moments when you reflexively grab your phone are moments when you’ve encountered a little bit of a roadblock in the work you’re doing—a moment when you’re not exactly sure what the next step is.” This is the crux of digital addiction: We don’t want to feel discomfort for even a moment (and that uneasiness could be boredom, tension with a co-worker or household chores you need to tackle), so we keep reaching for the thing that offers a temporary respite.

Lembke says that we have to train ourselves to accept certain levels of pain in order to feel pleasure. In the case of my constant self-interruptions, that pleasure would be the satisfaction of getting into a focused state. “The best way to deepen your work is to actually pause there and let yourself just sit in those eddying waters for a while,” she says. “Eventually, your mind will produce what the next step should be.” In regularly reaching for my emotional-support device, I’m not letting myself get into deep, challenging work. And I’m also not reaping the bigger reward that comes from doing hard things.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Our Phones Are Wrecking Our Attention Span; Here’s What to Do About It | ELLE Canada Magazine | Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle Trends & Celebrity News

I’m going live with another nature meditation in about 20 minutes. Today the session is about our declining attention span and how to improve it. -
https://youtu.be/Oh93OPhqCHo?si=m5WbYtu9K4MPKDpN

#NatureMeditation #AttentionSpan #Mindfulness #LiveSession #Focus #MentalHealth #WellnessJourney #MeditateWithMe #StressRelief #LiveNow #TMGcommunity

Struggling to focus in this digital world? You’re not alone. Research shows our attention spans have shrunk to 47 seconds. Distractions can be dangerous, from missing red lights to ignoring health warnings.

But there’s hope: simple mindfulness, better habits, and phone boundaries can help us reclaim focus and live more present.

Read my latest article: https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-cant-i-focus-146585519?uutm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_contentjoin_link

#Focus #Concentration #Mindfulness #Productivity #DigitalDetox #AttentionSpan #SelfImprovement #MentalHealth