#attention-span — Public Fediverse posts

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

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

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

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

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

🦭 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

🦭 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

🦭 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

🦭 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

Fast news. Cartoon for Dutch newspaper Trouw.

#news #NewsCycle #journalism #media #AttentionSpan

Fast news. Cartoon for Dutch newspaper Trouw.

#news #NewsCycle #journalism #media #AttentionSpan

Fast news. Cartoon for Dutch newspaper Trouw.

#news #NewsCycle #journalism #media #AttentionSpan

Fast news. Cartoon for Dutch newspaper Trouw.

#news #NewsCycle #journalism #media #AttentionSpan

DATE: July 6, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Neuroscientists shed light on the illusion of learning from short videos

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

Using social media applications to digest bite-sized educational content actually reduces a person’s ability to remember the information, according to new research. Watching rapid, fragmented clips captures sensory attention but impairs the deep cognitive processing required to pack away long-term memories compared to viewing a slightly longer, continuous video. These results were published in the journal Communications Psychology.

Short video platforms have exploded in popularity across the globe. Driven by highly tuned algorithmic recommendations, these applications deliver an endless feed of brief, visually stimulating clips. Given their highly engaging nature, many users have started treating these platforms as hubs for informal learning. Social media creators frequently post educational content attempting to summarize historical facts, scientific concepts, or news events in less than a minute.

Educational researchers already know that breaking an academic lecture into smaller, coherent chapters helps students retain information. That pedagogical strategy reduces the mental burden on the listener. However, the short videos found on social media are entirely different. They rely heavily on rapid scene changes, disconnected narratives, and intense auditory or visual effects to keep a viewer hooked.

The algorithms powering these short video platforms track user behavior intently, delivering a bespoke feed designed to maximize viewing time. Since users are rewarded with instant gratification in the form of novelty, their brains become accustomed to rapid cycles of stimulation. When a viewer attempts to switch gears and use the same application for serious learning, the underlying habits formed by the platform may fight against the sustained focus required for academic retention.

The problem with this format lies in how the human brain processes and stores new facts. A widely accepted psychological framework suggests that learning requires information to pass through several biological filters. First, a person observes an event, creating a fleeting sensory memory. If the person pays attention, that information enters working memory, which acts as a limited mental scratchpad. If someone continually shifts their attention to new stimuli, the previous thoughts decay before they can be copied into long-term storage.

Meiting Wei and Guang-Heng Dong, researchers based at Yunnan Normal University in China, suspected that the frenetic pace of social media clips would disrupt this chain of events. Along with their colleagues, they designed a sequence of three studies to test whether short videos are truly effective as educational tools.

To ensure a fair test, the researchers first had to rigorously match their video materials. They took a long documentary about travel destinations and extracted a ten-minute segment. For the short video condition, they chopped related footage into five to seven brief clips to mimic the rhythm of a social media feed. They interspersed these segments with non-informative filler shots, like silent aerial drone footage of landscapes. This ensured that the spoken word count and total factual information remained identical across both experimental setups.

In the first experiment, 180 college students participated in what cognitive psychologists call an incidental learning task. The students thought they were simply taking a relaxing break to watch travel videos. They had no idea they were going to be tested. Immediately after the ten minutes ended, the researchers sprang a quiz on the participants. They then administered a surprise follow-up quiz the very next day.

The individuals who watched the chopped up short videos scored lower on the immediate quiz than those who viewed the continuous documentary. The gap in performance indicated that the rapid context switching of the shorter clips prevented the brain from forming strong initial memories, even when the underlying factual information was identical in both videos.

The second experiment repeated the process with a new group of 185 students. This time, the study featured an intentional learning task. The researchers explicitly told the students to pay close attention because they would be graded on the material later.

Even with deliberate effort, the students in the short video group performed worse on the immediate test. The follow-up test the next day revealed an even greater cost to the fragmented format. The students who intentionally studied the short clips forgot a much higher percentage of their initial knowledge overnight compared to those who watched the continuous video. Putting more effort into focusing on the short videos was simply not enough to overcome the cognitive hurdles created by the format itself.

For the final phase of the project, the team wanted to observe the physical brain activity driving these memory failures. They recruited 59 new participants to watch the videos while resting inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine tracked blood flow in real time, highlighting which brain regions were working the hardest.

The researchers did not just look for isolated spikes in brain activity. They used a mathematical technique called inter-subject correlation to measure neural synchronization in the room. When an audience watches a well-crafted movie, their individual brain waves tend to sync up, rising and falling in unison. High synchronization occurs when a piece of media guides a group of people through the exact same sequence of advanced cognitive processing.

When the participants watched the continuous documentary, their brains synchronized deeply across several regions. The superior parietal lobule, an area involved in directing physical attention and integrating sensory input, synchronized heavily. The same was true for the precuneus, an area near the back of the brain tied to episodic memory, self-reflection, and organizing visual events into a coherent timeline. The shared activity suggests the students were actively building comparable mental maps of the content.

In stark contrast, watching the fragmented short videos destroyed that higher-level synchronization. Instead, the viewers’ brains only synchronized in regions responsible for immediate, automatic auditory processing and basic attention. This type of brain activity is known as bottom-up processing, relying on abrupt, flashy stimuli to command attention rather than an overarching narrative structure.

The short video viewers experienced heightened synchronization in areas like the middle frontal gyrus, which reacts to sudden shifts in the environment. This means the viewers were highly alert, but their cognitive resources were trapped reorienting to the flashing imagery rather than absorbing the spoken facts. A hyperactive sensory response leaves very little energetic capacity for the brain to extract meaning from the material.

Finally, the researchers analyzed functional connectivity, which measures how well different brain regions communicate with one another during a task. Forming a lasting memory requires the back of the brain, which processes visual and auditory input, to talk with the front of the brain, which handles executive control and decision making.

The rapid transitions inside the short videos fractured this communication. The connections between the visual cortex and the higher-level cognitive control centers grew weak. By constantly bombarding the senses with novel stimuli, the short clips appeared to trap the brain in a cycle of sensory tracking. The viewers were so busy processing the changing scenery that their brains lacked the bandwidth to package the facts for long-term storage.

Many educators have debated whether the modern classroom needs to adapt to shrinking attention spans by adopting a brisk, media-heavy teaching style. These results suggest a reason for pause. Leaning into ultra-short presentations might accidentally mimic the very digital habits that disrupt memory formation in the first place.

While these results highlight the cognitive toll of fractured digital media, the study authors acknowledge a few caveats. The research relied entirely on healthy college students. The memory impacts could be vastly different in younger children with developing brain structures, or in older adults.

The rigid environment of the brain scanner also prevented the team from simulating the physical aspect of mobile application usage. Participants could not swipe or scroll with their fingers, which is a major component of the dopamine loop associated with modern social media. Adding that physical interaction might alter how the brain allocates its limited attention reserves.

Future work will need to explore how physical scrolling behaviors interact with content formatting to alter how learning occurs. Interventions could also be designed to help students better pace their digital consumption. Until then, these findings suggest that treating brief, overly stimulating media as an educational resource holds hidden mental costs.

The study, “Learning via short videos impairs memory accuracy and reduces brain synchrony,” was authored by Meiting Wei, Yandan Li, Haosen Ni, Zhenglong Li, Jiang Liu, and Guang-Heng Dong.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

-------------------------------------------------

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

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MemoryResearch #ShortVideoEffect #EducationalVideo #BrainSynchronization #CognitiveLoad #MediaLiteracy #LearningScience #AttentionSpan #LongTermMemory #VideoEducation

DATE: July 6, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Neuroscientists shed light on the illusion of learning from short videos

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

Using social media applications to digest bite-sized educational content actually reduces a person’s ability to remember the information, according to new research. Watching rapid, fragmented clips captures sensory attention but impairs the deep cognitive processing required to pack away long-term memories compared to viewing a slightly longer, continuous video. These results were published in the journal Communications Psychology.

Short video platforms have exploded in popularity across the globe. Driven by highly tuned algorithmic recommendations, these applications deliver an endless feed of brief, visually stimulating clips. Given their highly engaging nature, many users have started treating these platforms as hubs for informal learning. Social media creators frequently post educational content attempting to summarize historical facts, scientific concepts, or news events in less than a minute.

Educational researchers already know that breaking an academic lecture into smaller, coherent chapters helps students retain information. That pedagogical strategy reduces the mental burden on the listener. However, the short videos found on social media are entirely different. They rely heavily on rapid scene changes, disconnected narratives, and intense auditory or visual effects to keep a viewer hooked.

The algorithms powering these short video platforms track user behavior intently, delivering a bespoke feed designed to maximize viewing time. Since users are rewarded with instant gratification in the form of novelty, their brains become accustomed to rapid cycles of stimulation. When a viewer attempts to switch gears and use the same application for serious learning, the underlying habits formed by the platform may fight against the sustained focus required for academic retention.

The problem with this format lies in how the human brain processes and stores new facts. A widely accepted psychological framework suggests that learning requires information to pass through several biological filters. First, a person observes an event, creating a fleeting sensory memory. If the person pays attention, that information enters working memory, which acts as a limited mental scratchpad. If someone continually shifts their attention to new stimuli, the previous thoughts decay before they can be copied into long-term storage.

Meiting Wei and Guang-Heng Dong, researchers based at Yunnan Normal University in China, suspected that the frenetic pace of social media clips would disrupt this chain of events. Along with their colleagues, they designed a sequence of three studies to test whether short videos are truly effective as educational tools.

To ensure a fair test, the researchers first had to rigorously match their video materials. They took a long documentary about travel destinations and extracted a ten-minute segment. For the short video condition, they chopped related footage into five to seven brief clips to mimic the rhythm of a social media feed. They interspersed these segments with non-informative filler shots, like silent aerial drone footage of landscapes. This ensured that the spoken word count and total factual information remained identical across both experimental setups.

In the first experiment, 180 college students participated in what cognitive psychologists call an incidental learning task. The students thought they were simply taking a relaxing break to watch travel videos. They had no idea they were going to be tested. Immediately after the ten minutes ended, the researchers sprang a quiz on the participants. They then administered a surprise follow-up quiz the very next day.

The individuals who watched the chopped up short videos scored lower on the immediate quiz than those who viewed the continuous documentary. The gap in performance indicated that the rapid context switching of the shorter clips prevented the brain from forming strong initial memories, even when the underlying factual information was identical in both videos.

The second experiment repeated the process with a new group of 185 students. This time, the study featured an intentional learning task. The researchers explicitly told the students to pay close attention because they would be graded on the material later.

Even with deliberate effort, the students in the short video group performed worse on the immediate test. The follow-up test the next day revealed an even greater cost to the fragmented format. The students who intentionally studied the short clips forgot a much higher percentage of their initial knowledge overnight compared to those who watched the continuous video. Putting more effort into focusing on the short videos was simply not enough to overcome the cognitive hurdles created by the format itself.

For the final phase of the project, the team wanted to observe the physical brain activity driving these memory failures. They recruited 59 new participants to watch the videos while resting inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine tracked blood flow in real time, highlighting which brain regions were working the hardest.

The researchers did not just look for isolated spikes in brain activity. They used a mathematical technique called inter-subject correlation to measure neural synchronization in the room. When an audience watches a well-crafted movie, their individual brain waves tend to sync up, rising and falling in unison. High synchronization occurs when a piece of media guides a group of people through the exact same sequence of advanced cognitive processing.

When the participants watched the continuous documentary, their brains synchronized deeply across several regions. The superior parietal lobule, an area involved in directing physical attention and integrating sensory input, synchronized heavily. The same was true for the precuneus, an area near the back of the brain tied to episodic memory, self-reflection, and organizing visual events into a coherent timeline. The shared activity suggests the students were actively building comparable mental maps of the content.

In stark contrast, watching the fragmented short videos destroyed that higher-level synchronization. Instead, the viewers’ brains only synchronized in regions responsible for immediate, automatic auditory processing and basic attention. This type of brain activity is known as bottom-up processing, relying on abrupt, flashy stimuli to command attention rather than an overarching narrative structure.

The short video viewers experienced heightened synchronization in areas like the middle frontal gyrus, which reacts to sudden shifts in the environment. This means the viewers were highly alert, but their cognitive resources were trapped reorienting to the flashing imagery rather than absorbing the spoken facts. A hyperactive sensory response leaves very little energetic capacity for the brain to extract meaning from the material.

Finally, the researchers analyzed functional connectivity, which measures how well different brain regions communicate with one another during a task. Forming a lasting memory requires the back of the brain, which processes visual and auditory input, to talk with the front of the brain, which handles executive control and decision making.

The rapid transitions inside the short videos fractured this communication. The connections between the visual cortex and the higher-level cognitive control centers grew weak. By constantly bombarding the senses with novel stimuli, the short clips appeared to trap the brain in a cycle of sensory tracking. The viewers were so busy processing the changing scenery that their brains lacked the bandwidth to package the facts for long-term storage.

Many educators have debated whether the modern classroom needs to adapt to shrinking attention spans by adopting a brisk, media-heavy teaching style. These results suggest a reason for pause. Leaning into ultra-short presentations might accidentally mimic the very digital habits that disrupt memory formation in the first place.

While these results highlight the cognitive toll of fractured digital media, the study authors acknowledge a few caveats. The research relied entirely on healthy college students. The memory impacts could be vastly different in younger children with developing brain structures, or in older adults.

The rigid environment of the brain scanner also prevented the team from simulating the physical aspect of mobile application usage. Participants could not swipe or scroll with their fingers, which is a major component of the dopamine loop associated with modern social media. Adding that physical interaction might alter how the brain allocates its limited attention reserves.

Future work will need to explore how physical scrolling behaviors interact with content formatting to alter how learning occurs. Interventions could also be designed to help students better pace their digital consumption. Until then, these findings suggest that treating brief, overly stimulating media as an educational resource holds hidden mental costs.

The study, “Learning via short videos impairs memory accuracy and reduces brain synchrony,” was authored by Meiting Wei, Yandan Li, Haosen Ni, Zhenglong Li, Jiang Liu, and Guang-Heng Dong.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

-------------------------------------------------

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

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MemoryResearch #ShortVideoEffect #EducationalVideo #BrainSynchronization #CognitiveLoad #MediaLiteracy #LearningScience #AttentionSpan #LongTermMemory #VideoEducation

DATE: July 6, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Neuroscientists shed light on the illusion of learning from short videos

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

Using social media applications to digest bite-sized educational content actually reduces a person’s ability to remember the information, according to new research. Watching rapid, fragmented clips captures sensory attention but impairs the deep cognitive processing required to pack away long-term memories compared to viewing a slightly longer, continuous video. These results were published in the journal Communications Psychology.

Short video platforms have exploded in popularity across the globe. Driven by highly tuned algorithmic recommendations, these applications deliver an endless feed of brief, visually stimulating clips. Given their highly engaging nature, many users have started treating these platforms as hubs for informal learning. Social media creators frequently post educational content attempting to summarize historical facts, scientific concepts, or news events in less than a minute.

Educational researchers already know that breaking an academic lecture into smaller, coherent chapters helps students retain information. That pedagogical strategy reduces the mental burden on the listener. However, the short videos found on social media are entirely different. They rely heavily on rapid scene changes, disconnected narratives, and intense auditory or visual effects to keep a viewer hooked.

The algorithms powering these short video platforms track user behavior intently, delivering a bespoke feed designed to maximize viewing time. Since users are rewarded with instant gratification in the form of novelty, their brains become accustomed to rapid cycles of stimulation. When a viewer attempts to switch gears and use the same application for serious learning, the underlying habits formed by the platform may fight against the sustained focus required for academic retention.

The problem with this format lies in how the human brain processes and stores new facts. A widely accepted psychological framework suggests that learning requires information to pass through several biological filters. First, a person observes an event, creating a fleeting sensory memory. If the person pays attention, that information enters working memory, which acts as a limited mental scratchpad. If someone continually shifts their attention to new stimuli, the previous thoughts decay before they can be copied into long-term storage.

Meiting Wei and Guang-Heng Dong, researchers based at Yunnan Normal University in China, suspected that the frenetic pace of social media clips would disrupt this chain of events. Along with their colleagues, they designed a sequence of three studies to test whether short videos are truly effective as educational tools.

To ensure a fair test, the researchers first had to rigorously match their video materials. They took a long documentary about travel destinations and extracted a ten-minute segment. For the short video condition, they chopped related footage into five to seven brief clips to mimic the rhythm of a social media feed. They interspersed these segments with non-informative filler shots, like silent aerial drone footage of landscapes. This ensured that the spoken word count and total factual information remained identical across both experimental setups.

In the first experiment, 180 college students participated in what cognitive psychologists call an incidental learning task. The students thought they were simply taking a relaxing break to watch travel videos. They had no idea they were going to be tested. Immediately after the ten minutes ended, the researchers sprang a quiz on the participants. They then administered a surprise follow-up quiz the very next day.

The individuals who watched the chopped up short videos scored lower on the immediate quiz than those who viewed the continuous documentary. The gap in performance indicated that the rapid context switching of the shorter clips prevented the brain from forming strong initial memories, even when the underlying factual information was identical in both videos.

The second experiment repeated the process with a new group of 185 students. This time, the study featured an intentional learning task. The researchers explicitly told the students to pay close attention because they would be graded on the material later.

Even with deliberate effort, the students in the short video group performed worse on the immediate test. The follow-up test the next day revealed an even greater cost to the fragmented format. The students who intentionally studied the short clips forgot a much higher percentage of their initial knowledge overnight compared to those who watched the continuous video. Putting more effort into focusing on the short videos was simply not enough to overcome the cognitive hurdles created by the format itself.

For the final phase of the project, the team wanted to observe the physical brain activity driving these memory failures. They recruited 59 new participants to watch the videos while resting inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine tracked blood flow in real time, highlighting which brain regions were working the hardest.

The researchers did not just look for isolated spikes in brain activity. They used a mathematical technique called inter-subject correlation to measure neural synchronization in the room. When an audience watches a well-crafted movie, their individual brain waves tend to sync up, rising and falling in unison. High synchronization occurs when a piece of media guides a group of people through the exact same sequence of advanced cognitive processing.

When the participants watched the continuous documentary, their brains synchronized deeply across several regions. The superior parietal lobule, an area involved in directing physical attention and integrating sensory input, synchronized heavily. The same was true for the precuneus, an area near the back of the brain tied to episodic memory, self-reflection, and organizing visual events into a coherent timeline. The shared activity suggests the students were actively building comparable mental maps of the content.

In stark contrast, watching the fragmented short videos destroyed that higher-level synchronization. Instead, the viewers’ brains only synchronized in regions responsible for immediate, automatic auditory processing and basic attention. This type of brain activity is known as bottom-up processing, relying on abrupt, flashy stimuli to command attention rather than an overarching narrative structure.

The short video viewers experienced heightened synchronization in areas like the middle frontal gyrus, which reacts to sudden shifts in the environment. This means the viewers were highly alert, but their cognitive resources were trapped reorienting to the flashing imagery rather than absorbing the spoken facts. A hyperactive sensory response leaves very little energetic capacity for the brain to extract meaning from the material.

Finally, the researchers analyzed functional connectivity, which measures how well different brain regions communicate with one another during a task. Forming a lasting memory requires the back of the brain, which processes visual and auditory input, to talk with the front of the brain, which handles executive control and decision making.

The rapid transitions inside the short videos fractured this communication. The connections between the visual cortex and the higher-level cognitive control centers grew weak. By constantly bombarding the senses with novel stimuli, the short clips appeared to trap the brain in a cycle of sensory tracking. The viewers were so busy processing the changing scenery that their brains lacked the bandwidth to package the facts for long-term storage.

Many educators have debated whether the modern classroom needs to adapt to shrinking attention spans by adopting a brisk, media-heavy teaching style. These results suggest a reason for pause. Leaning into ultra-short presentations might accidentally mimic the very digital habits that disrupt memory formation in the first place.

While these results highlight the cognitive toll of fractured digital media, the study authors acknowledge a few caveats. The research relied entirely on healthy college students. The memory impacts could be vastly different in younger children with developing brain structures, or in older adults.

The rigid environment of the brain scanner also prevented the team from simulating the physical aspect of mobile application usage. Participants could not swipe or scroll with their fingers, which is a major component of the dopamine loop associated with modern social media. Adding that physical interaction might alter how the brain allocates its limited attention reserves.

Future work will need to explore how physical scrolling behaviors interact with content formatting to alter how learning occurs. Interventions could also be designed to help students better pace their digital consumption. Until then, these findings suggest that treating brief, overly stimulating media as an educational resource holds hidden mental costs.

The study, “Learning via short videos impairs memory accuracy and reduces brain synchrony,” was authored by Meiting Wei, Yandan Li, Haosen Ni, Zhenglong Li, Jiang Liu, and Guang-Heng Dong.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

-------------------------------------------------

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

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MemoryResearch #ShortVideoEffect #EducationalVideo #BrainSynchronization #CognitiveLoad #MediaLiteracy #LearningScience #AttentionSpan #LongTermMemory #VideoEducation

Scientists Have Discovered an Ancient Brain Circuit That Filters Distractions https://www.byteseu.com/2147930/ #ADHD #attention #AttentionSpan #Brain #BrainCircuit #distractions #neurons #Science #TheBrain

🐢 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

🐢 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

🐢 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

🐢 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

🐢 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.

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.

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.

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.

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/

#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/

#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/

#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/

#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

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

#attentionspan #technology #mobile #restrictions

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

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

#attentionspan #technology #mobile #restrictions

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

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

#attentionspan #technology #mobile #restrictions

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

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

#attentionspan #technology #mobile #restrictions

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

Fact Check Friday: Are we actually addicted to our phones, or just bored? | Health News

 
The moment there is silence, many…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #attentionspan #boredomandsmartphones #CA #Canada #Digitaladdiction #doomscrolling #dopamineandphones #endlessscrolling #excessivephoneuse #FactCheckFriday #Health #mentalhealthandphones #MentalHealth #phoneaddiction #screentime #short-formcontent #smartphoneaddiction #smartphonehabits #smartphoneoveruse
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/702604/

https://www.europesays.com/uk/992864/ Fact Check Friday: Are we actually addicted to our phones, or just bored? | Health News #AttentionSpan #BoredomAndSmartphones #DigitalAddiction #doomscrolling #DopamineAndPhones #EndlessScrolling #ExcessivePhoneUse #FactCheckFriday #Health #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAndPhones #PhoneAddiction #ScreenTime #ShortFormContent #SmartphoneAddiction #SmartphoneHabits #SmartphoneOveruse #UK #UnitedKingdom

Fact Check Friday: Are we actually addicted to our phones, or just bored? | Health News

 
The moment there is silence, m…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #attentionspan #AU #Australia #boredomandsmartphones #Digitaladdiction #doomscrolling #dopamineandphones #endlessscrolling #excessivephoneuse #FactCheckFriday #Health #mentalhealthandphones #MentalHealth #phoneaddiction #screentime #short-formcontent #smartphoneaddiction #smartphonehabits #smartphoneoveruse
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/702612/

Fact Check Friday: Are we actually addicted to our phones, or just bored? | Health News

 
The moment there is silence, m…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #attentionspan #AU #Australia #boredomandsmartphones #Digitaladdiction #doomscrolling #dopamineandphones #endlessscrolling #excessivephoneuse #FactCheckFriday #Health #mentalhealthandphones #MentalHealth #phoneaddiction #screentime #short-formcontent #smartphoneaddiction #smartphonehabits #smartphoneoveruse
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/702612/

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

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

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

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

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

Checking your phone right after waking up? Doctor explains how it can spike stress and set the tone for your entire day

Your alarm goes off, you reach out to silence it – and before you are even fully awake,…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #anxiety #attentionspan #checkingphone #Cortisol #Health #informationoverload #MentalHealth #notifications #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/610265/

https://www.europesays.com/ie/508340/ Checking your phone right after waking up? Doctor explains how it can spike stress and set the tone for your entire day #anxiety #AttentionSpan #CheckingPhone #Cortisol #Éire #Health #IE #InformationOverload #Ireland #MentalHealth #MentalHealth #notifications

https://www.europesays.com/uk/991609/ Checking your phone right after waking up? Doctor explains how it can spike stress and set the tone for your entire day #anxiety #AttentionSpan #CheckingPhone #Cortisol #Health #InformationOverload #MentalHealth #notifications #UK #UnitedKingdom

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

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

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

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

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

https://www.europesays.com/uk/972397/ Women Who Grew Up With Undiagnosed ADHD Were Usually Called 11 Things By People In Their Lives #ADHD #attention #AttentionDeficitDisorder #AttentionSpan #concentration #GrowingUp #Health #MentalHealth #SELF #UK #UnitedKingdom #Women

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 req…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #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/

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 req…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #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/

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/