Social media, while marketed as a platform to share about oneself and have a quick laugh, has created a negative impact on people’s attention spans. Many Americans who consistently use social media have become victims of sensory overload, leaving them wanting more than traditional media offers. Unfortunately, the grim reality of shorter attention spans is unclear to many people.

In recent years, videos have become shorter. Vine, for example, presented a platform with videos that were as short as six seconds long. Instagram’s new Reels feature and TikTok’s general platform offer users with short clips. As videos have gotten shorter and shorter, the dopamine kick from entertainment has become scarcer and scarcer. Thus, social media has ruined the attention spans of numerous young folk.

Many with shorter attention spans are starting to contract various problems. Healthline reported a few of these problems are laziness, poor communication skills, health neglect and an inability to complete daily tasks. These issues frequently lead to a lower quality of living and a higher possibility of being fired from a job.

There are simple ways to solve these issues. The main solution would simply be to limit social media usage and other dopamine-feeding activities. By limiting the use of social media, it is possible to improve one’s attention span. Although it sounds quite easy to do, there are several problems with this.

Many people are hard addicts and are unable to distance themselves from social media. For these people to start, it is best not to completely remove social media from their lives but slowly decrease the amount of time they spend on it. MedicalNewsToday suggests that using social media for a maximum of 20 minutes a day is a good place to start for those wanting a break from it.

The best way is to replace the time that is spent on social media with other activities, such as sports, hanging out with friends, taking up a part time job and general exercise. As more of these responsibilities and activities pile on, one should notice a drastic decrease in the amount of time they spend on social media as they simply do not have the time to be on it.

Sometimes, the key to a better life really is just touching grass.