Auditory Attention Span

These days we are repeatedly hearing that the attention span of the young generation (iGen/Generation I) has reduced immeasurably and they can no longer focus on a task for more than a few minutes. Technology is, of course, the accused in this case, with instant messaging, instant shopping and the world of information at our fingertips. I’m not really sure where I stand on this but some musical experiences I've had recently led me to wonder if there might be some truth in the claim. 

It’s the end of the academic year and I’ve enjoyed and endured a good number of student performances in the form of dances, skits and songs etc. It’s not the off-key confidence nor formulaic dance steps that frustrate me - that’s part of the enjoyment and cuteness of children’s performances - but the new trend of streaming six to ten music pieces all together in one performance. The medley has been around for eons but seems to be gaining a firmer foothold whilst the length of each music clip is becoming increasingly brief. Now it seems ‘normal’ to be watching a performance with as little as 30 seconds of one song before an an abrupt halt and we’re flung into the next song and then the next and the next. There is no flow, no subtle change of beat, just seemingly random change and discontinuity.

Now, I know that I’m in danger of sounding curmudgeonly (if that’s not a term reserved only for the old and male) but am wondering whether this could be evidence of the reduced attention span of our youngsters? It surely marks a demise in musical discernment too. Did we not used to regard a DJ as skilled in the way he/she could move us from one song to the next, cleverly taking us on a musical journey by carefully beat-mapping and blending music together? Now that everyone can be a DJ perhaps this skill is a dying art but our ears and minds still need a sense of cohesion. By cutting up music in this manner, its structural beauty is lost and, to be honest, its entire meaning. This trend showed up in my students’ compositions this year too, with some kids submitting highly ill-thought out pieces comprising of short bits of music strung together, bearing no relation to one-another. I think I was on board with the medley when it was at the stage of maybe blending three songs, carefully chosen for their ability to take us to contrasting yet connected places in our musical minds but when it stretches to perhaps ten pieces, I find my attention is lost.

I wonder whether this phenomenon perhaps mirrors the never-ceasing and depressingly facile tweets, Instagram posts and WhatsApp messages which form the white noise of our contemporary lives and has perhaps become an auditory sign of the times.