Group of friends in the street with smartphone
Does social media usage permanently reduce attention span? If yes, then is there any solution to it? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
Answer by Nir Eyal, Author of "Hooked" and "Indistractable",, on Quora:
Short answer: no, there is no research that shows that social media permanently reduces attention span.
Because of what I write about — distraction, behavior, focus — I hear all the time the criticism that social media is ruining people’s minds. That it’s capturing our attention, wrecking our relationships, and taking from us more than it gives. But it turns out: there’s no scientific proof that it “permanently reduce attention span.” When a researcher did a deep look at the studies published on social media, she found unreliable research methods, exaggerated claims, and bad data. A lot of what had been published about the effects of social media was just plain wrong.
I’d say this: Overuse of tech can have negative consequences. But it’s not inherently good or bad. The answer is more nuanced. It has to do with how much you use, who is using, what they are doing and what they would be doing instead of using. Tech offers an easy-to-reach distraction, and that you do need to manage. For me, I manage it by building time for social media into my schedule—it makes for a guilt-free chance to look at my various feeds, enjoy content, get updates on people’s lives. What I don’t do—and what I’d urge you not to do—is to use it as a way of avoiding whatever task you should be doing at that moment.
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