by In this day and age with social media, when people watch videos they usually are only about 15 seconds to a minute long. This is how long a human watching these videos can stay attentive to what they are watching without becoming bored. This is an interesting problem that has arrived in the last couple of years and while it has many effects, this post is going to focus on how this shorter attention span effects movies.
The Cause for Shorter Attention Spans
Attention spans started to shrink when social media companies like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram found a way to fit just enough content in just a very short time frame, usually under a minute. Content creators found that this made it easier to make content, and get a lot of views and followers. However, many people have consumed a lot of this type of content and they are beginning to be less attentive to longer videos, and thus people who work harder on longer videos will not see the number of followers and views that they used to. In turn, this also effects the movie industry.
How Movie Companies have adapted
Have you watched an older movie, made around 1980 or before, and thought, “man this is really slow…..” Did you find it hard to watch the film, and did you finish it? Was it worth the time to watch it in your mind? This was probably because your attention span is used to more action and thrill to keep your mind interested in the film. However, that wasn’t present in the older film you watched so it could have felt like it dragged. Of course, this is not true for every movie made in 1980 or before as many still watch famous films like It’s a Wonderful Life.
Movie companies have found this to be a serious issue, but they have found a way to adapt. If you have noticed in recent films, there is a lot more action in films than there were before. There isn’t as much story as there used to be. This is why companies like Marvel and Star Wars do so well and other companies can’t even compete. This brings an interesting situation for movie companies as they need to create content that will entertain viewers and make them want to come back more.
What will probably happen in the future
As I’ve said in the past, Star Wars and Marvel won’t last forever. Soon we will get the next big thing. I expect that movie’s runtimes are going to start to shrink to stay under 2 hours, and after a couple years we may see them cut down to an hour and a half. It is also possible that most movies will turn into TV shows since they are shorter and will be easier to stay entertained by for viewers with a shorter attention span.
What do you think about people having shorter attention spans and how it might effect the movie industry? Let us know in the comments!
©Apple Tree Movies
