The 280-Character Society
Dear Twitter, TikTok and all social media platforms,
This 280-character society you have created has upset me.
It’s your fault that the attention span of the average American is now 60 seconds long. Being the blogger that I am, this doesn’t work for me. I need people to hang on for at least 15 minutes to finish 1,000 words.
I may have to start swearing even more, just to keep people interested. I mean, I too agree that swearing is interesting – and my wholesome ideas can only go so far, but do I have to disclose all of my darkest secrets just to keep y’all happy?
It seems that the practice of continually swiping has changed something in our brains. We can’t slow down. It’s happening to me too. I recently came across an article in The New Yorker about one of my favorite authors, Glennon Doyle and her wife Abby Wambach. I refilled my coffee and was excited for 20 minutes of inspiration. I got through the first paragraph, then immediately jumped to the last. Shit. My own attention span has shortened to a single paragraph.
I continued to read the article BACKWARDS, because I was still interested and it was still written well. What the hell has happened to me? I used to devour a good article, word by word, taking notes and highlighting quotes. And now I’m jumping around like some sort of jelly bean.
But there’s no time for over thinking now. My 60 seconds is up. Goodbye.