Are attention spans really broken?

Click this link to try Headspace for free! https://headspace-web.app.link/e/HOW For a limited time, get a 60-day free trial.

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13...

To support independent science journalism and get bonus content ...
JOIN OUR PATREON:   / howtown  

Here are some of the wonderful people on who support this channel through our Patreon Town Council:

Bev Fong
Chris Wubbels
Sean Barrett
Mike Purvis
Jon Hewett
Albychen
Aatish Bhatia
Sean Talon
Evan Hass
Mark Tinker
L.A. O’Connor
Marcos Huerta
Joaquim Salles
Sam Gaty
Jason Dunlap
Parag Mallick
Edgar Sutawika
Tim Davey
Navneet
Tra Him
Taylor
Pedro ZM
Ale
Martin Weeks
Dimi
Bryce Golden-Chen
Estelle Caswell
Gregory Laborde
Yash Murthy
martin david
Matthew Stvartak
Garret Wates
Slightly Suspicious Mind
Kellyn Lorentzen-Goler
omg.science
Duncan Stannett
Keith England
Jocelyn Tabancay Duffy
Casey Schatz
Mark McCreary
Oscar Balcells Quintana
Jonathan McCabe
Branden Ushjima
Esh Tatla
Wookiee Henderson
Frances Haugen

Are TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts actually destroying our attention spans, or is “brain rot” just another moral panic? In this video, we dig into the science behind short-form video and attention, from debunking viral goldfish statistics to explaining real cognitive psychology experiments testing analytical thinking and prospective memory. We break down what researchers actually mean by “attention span,” how infinite scroll and autoplay feeds are genuinely different from previous forms of media, and what lab tests can and can’t tell us about the mental effects of short-form video.

Chapters:
00:00 Brain rot?
01:45 The tiktok docs
03:51 The bizarro restaurant analogy
08:36 Debunking the goldfish myth
09:30 Can we measure attention span?
14:04 Your brain on shorts
15:09 The cognitive reflection test
17:04 The prospective memory test
21:24 Selective interest