Is Social Media The Digital "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out"?

With the growth of social media and expansion of the Internet many of us are slowly losing our ability to effectively communicate and form meaningful connections with others. Technology is reshaping our brain architecture and how we explore and attend the real world. 

     Many websites today list the average reading time at the top of articles to inform people how much time they can't expect to invest on that site before even reading the article. Prior to development of social media Journalists took more pride in being right and there was a certain degree of integrity that came along with that profession. Nowadays it is about being the first to break a story, regardless if the details are right, in order to monetize web traffic to a website. Even the cycle of news stories have changed. Fifteen years ago National News was a mainstream talking point for at least a week. Nowadays National News has about a 48 hour life unless other information is shared in connection to that information. This is why stories are now shared in segments and you rarely get all of the details when a story breaks. This is not because of lack of information, it is often done in parts to lengthen the life of a story. Sometimes the wrong information is deliberately shared in order to retract it 24-48 hours later, which insures web traffic for another two days. Keep in mind that I am speaking from personal experience, as a writer and as a subject who was catapulted into the spotlight in 2014 when I was cited by as a subject matter expert by the international and national press on Jay-Z's Five Percenter Jewelry.

     Average films today are shorter in runtime, use shorter shots and have more motion and action. That, including the increase in web series on streaming sites and increase commercial time speaks to the changing attention span of audiences. In the early nineties standard Rap songs were comprised of 3 verses and 4 minutes and some seconds long. Now you get maybe two verses for a couple of minutes, as a standard. Dope albums that dropped in the Spring got bumped the entire Summer and into the Autumn. In fact, when we personally declared an album as "Album of the Year" that is because we literally listened to it all year. Nowadays an album may get attention for maybe a week before people begin looking around for the next new release. This is why many Artists today compulsively push out music like it is coming off of a conveyor belt and tour to the point of putting their health at risk; they're trying to keep up with the attention span of their fickle audience. If not, they run the risk of being labeled irrelevant and the next unwilling contestant on the popular game show Cancel Culture. These are just some examples of the changing technological landscape, which has been critical to how we engage one another. 

     All social media formats use a scroll screen model. This enables users to easily scroll through pages without the cumbersome task of reading anything. If reading was not considered cumbersome, social media Apps would not limit the character count to convey a thought. Consider the following character count limits and ideal character count:

Instagram = 2,200 characters max (144 ideal)

Twitter = 280 characters max (71-100, 85 ideal)

Facebook = 63,206 (40-80, 60 ideal)

LinkedIn = 700 (50-100, 75 ideal)

     While some people have learned and are learning to use these limited/ideal character counts to refine concise truncated thought, many others have found themselves becoming less and less equipped to communicate, online and offline. This technological shift coincides with what we are also seeing across the country with the closing and defunding of libraries, the historically low ELA competency levels in primary school students and the moving away from handwriting in exchange for typing. This is vitally important to understand because it affects the social emotional literacy trajectory of our for children and their ability to effectively communicate. In my article 1-36: What is English Lesson No. C1? I discussed why early talking matters and how children in impoverished communities on average hear 30 million fewer words than their privileged counterparts. With the introduction of the Internet and Social Media that is not integrated into our children's daily lives with Apps and Programs to help facilitate social emotional development and literacy, it only widens the disparity between children in impoverished communities from those in privileged communities. I know children in various grade levels who consistently tell me that they just played on a phone, an iPad or laptop when they're asked who when asked, "What did you do this weekend?" 
     In seeing this shift happening over the years I have consistently explored and wrote on this subject. My goal has been and continues to be finding effective ways to use this technology without undermining our ability to function within the real world. This is especially important to me as a Five Percenter who publicly represents our culture. As a Five Percent there are still many of our traditions that are not transferable in this digital domain. For example, in the digital world "all being born to" has been shortened to "abbt" in SMS language or textspeak just like "laugh my ass off" is "LMAO" and "get the f*ck outta here with that bullsh*t" is GTFOHWTB. Abbt does not appropriately convey the concept of drawing things up to their highest nor does textspeak enable us to explain that. Again, while character count limits can be used to develop concise thoughts, I have never been in a cipher where someone used Twitter's 85 ideal character count to build on Today's Mathematics or Today's Degree. The problem is there are folks today who have gotten exposed to KOS [Knowledge of Self] via the Internet and social media who believe that they are actually building with limited characters, comments and SMS language. Even with the LIVE function, social media Apps are not designed to support our traditional form of cultural engagement. As I've consistently mentioned over the years, I utilize these articles, my literature, videos, animation and online classes as routing devices to realtime. Regardless of technology's ability to help facilitate engagement, the best way to build with someone about our culture is to walk with them. The irony is it is "virtually" impossible to learn an entire culture without being actually immersed in it. Ironically, this has become an integral part of American culture and if you were to ask children today what they want to be when they grow up many will say, "A YouTuber!" Their aspirations are not to be a person with a measurable skill set that can contribute to this world, they aspire to be a talking head. It is a digital form of "Turn on, tune in, drop out." 
     There is no way to be a part of this society without interfacing with its technology. So we must explore effective ways to utilize it without it using us. Friday March 6th was National Unplugging Day which is something we need to do more often. This enables us to be more present and better focused on what is happening in realtime. Fasting, Meditation and Mindfulness are also a few techniques that help strengthen our attention span AND minimize attention seeking behavior. Our ability to effectively communicate, and form meaningful connections with others, is ultimately on us. 

Peace,
Saladin