Lindsey Komson

Featured Image by Gabrielle Henderson

I could scroll on Twitter or Instagram Reels for hours. I bet anyone can.

Many people know about algorithms and how they shape our social media feeds. The more you engage with a certain type of post or a particular user, the more that platform feeds you that type of content. But have people considered how algorithms shape our attention spans?

The Center for Humane Technology asserts that “digital technologies like recommendation algorithms can understand personal preferences with previously unimaginable precision, and often lead to unprecedented attention extraction and related harms.”

I love when Instagram fills my explore page with workout videos or cute pictures of dogs. That’s what I interact with, so that’s what it feeds me. While I might be helping Instagram, I’m hurting my attention span. Switching between 30-second videos of someone’s leg day might give me workout ideas, but it’s shortening my attention span with every passing minute.

As social media takes over more and more of our world, we have to be careful. Why?

“Because the alternative is the endless extraction of our most precious resource: attention,” according to the Center for Humane Technology.

“Choosing where we place our attention is the most basic tool we have for bettering our lives. There is an emerging consensus that this is something we simply cannot afford to lose.”

As technology evolves, it’s obvious that people will keep running to the next big thing. It’s new and exciting, I get it. New technology can be super impactful for businesses, education, and basically everything in life. But we need to use it in moderation.

Nobody really wants to think about what life would be like if we hurt our attention spans way beyond repair. It’s scary. So to ensure that we don’t reach that point, we need to find non-tech interests and create a balance.

Of course, I love Twitter and Instagram Reels. But I also love working out, watching a baseball game, and spending time with my friends in person.

Social media is important, especially since I’d love to work in that field someday, but it’s important to use it in moderation.

I’m still learning to do this myself. The more I learn from sources like the Center for Humane Technology and Stolen Focus, the more I’m trying to implement them into my life, and you should too.