The price we pay for the convenience of modern technology.

Whenever I hear a phrase - “no one reads the captions under the Instagram posts, people only look at the images/reels”, it actually motivates me to write longer texts on the platform. Not in the hope that more people will read my words, but because in my personal reality I am not going to reinforce the dysfunctional pattern that has become so normalised in our society. Because the short attention span our generation is suffering from, is nothing to be proud of and to keep reinforcing.

P.S. This piece doesn’t apply to those situations when one isn’t able to concentrate due to their nervous system being highly dysregulated/stuck in a trauma response; I’ve been there myself many times, and there isn’t really much you can do, until you are out of the survival mode and able to focus again. Nor does this apply to people with conditions such as dyslexia etc. It is only aimed at the overall normalisation of the shortening of people’s attention spans due to the modern overexposure of our brains to the non stop quick dopamine hits/short term gratification that happens as a result of the exposure to a lot of the online content out there. Obviously it affects me too , but I believe that this is something to keep an eye on, as opposed to glorify.

In a way this pattern is a result of a certain addiction - to one’s gadgets in this case. And just like with any other addictive behaviour, most of the time it develops as a coping mechanism in order to cope with life’s challenges. This particular coping mechanism is escapism and it is also closely linked to the ‘dissociation’ - a way of our mind to check out of the reality, whether simply by daydreaming and not being present in our bodies, taking various substances, or by scrolling and swiping in this case.

Why do we enjoy it so much? It takes us out of the present moment and allows us not to feel what we do not want to feel. Add to that the quick dopamine hits, and it can become very addictive. A kind of distraction that is indeed very unique to this generation; when I was growing up - books were my distraction, and I am very grateful for that. For the majority of children these days, the situation is very different.

By no means is the problem limited to Instagram, but social media in general does play a major role in this phenomenon. I am not saying that we should be ashamed of this pattern, that won’t help either. If anything , I am the first to admit that I read a lot less these days compared to times in my life when social media wasn’t as pervasive as it is now. However, to celebrate this side effect, to see it as a norm, as opposed to a consequence of being exposed to non stop dopamine hits and short term gratification that occurs with the constant social media usage, is a lousy long term strategy for the humanity. Why do I think that this is glorified and reinforced by some? Because a lot of the time this attitude, this opinion is expressed in the absolutes. “NO ONE reads.” And that is simply not true.

It is true however that the majority of the population indeed won’t read anything longer than a couple of sentences, yet I know that people who still are able to do so, will appreciate meaningful writing when they see it. And I know this because I am one of those people, and I would hate for the intelligent and deep thinkers out there stop expressing themselves, just because the majority of people cannot concentrate long enough .

This brings me to the recent Apple’s iPhone advert I have seen, and my thoughts on it. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really dislike the ad in question. You know the one where during the lunch a woman pretends that she has indeed read the email from her colleague , and then the new Apple AI feature quickly summarises the email content for her, so she can successfully fake the knowledge of it.

Well done from the business perspective I suppose (although a questionable win), yet on a human level this ad promotes dishonesty and deception, not to mention that both the ad and the new IPhone feature celebrate and encourage the short attention span so many are already suffering from.

Sure, there is an element of convenience , but if one cannot be bothered to read an email, the solution offered may or may not signal further technological progress, but it definitely signals further cognitive decline of the humanity.

So what is the solution? The technological progress is only going to increase and so will our reliance on the gadgets. There is no doubt that all these tools add value to our lives; the key is to keep them as that - tools, as opposed to substitutes for what our brains should really be able to do without relying on technology at every step of the way.

In my opinion, we need to make a conscious effort to read, to write, to use our brains in a way that supports the reflection and deep thinking , not just jumping on the surface level of the information. I believe that people who are active on “Vocal” platform do so anyway, but apparently we are a minority. Some don’t even believe that we exist. I do not want people like us to become extinct, and it saddens me a great deal that the current dominant values of the society are the quantity , as opposed to the quality of the content.

Information is literally the first and the most basic level of a certain hierarchy; knowledge is the second, wisdom the third and the highest. Due to the addiction described above, as a society we are pretty much stuck on the first floor of the building. We have an over abundance of information, a lot less true knowledge, and even less wisdom. We need to strive for the latter, as without it , there is little, if any growth.