There’s one complaint I hear a lot from my parent mates: the ever-shortening attention spans of their kids. What with advancements in technology, and the utter joy young people get from apps such as TikTok and Snapchat, consuming entertainment in short bursts is becoming the preferred method. I think the worry we all have as parents is what impact that will have on our kids later on in life. What happens if they simply can’t concentrate on anything for long enough?
It’s hard for us because it’s a world that we as adults are navigating for the first time – it was just never like this when we were growing up. And yes, before nay-sayers start complaining, I know each generation goes through stuff the previous generation did not, but the pace of the change is the thing we’re all finding difficult. It’s hard to keep up.
But what responsibility do we have as parents to not allow technology to completely take over the pace at which our kids develop? It’s something that’s been playing on my mind for a while now, as my two start getting older.
I took them to their first gig at the start of half-term: the relentlessly joyful and energetic Kidz Bop. If you’ve never heard of them, they’re a children’s music group that produces family-friendly cover versions of pop songs, and they are currently on a UK tour. So the kids and I, along with a couple of mates and their kids, headed over to Hammersmith Apollo to a sell-out show full of screaming primary-school children living their best live-music life. Florence and Alfie’s excitement was infectious, so much so that I was belting out their version of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” like a pro, to the point where Florence (aged four), turned round and told me to stop singing so loudly in her ear. Oh, the shame.
I adore live music. My godfather Kes took me to my first gig when I was 12 to see Michael Jackson at Wembley Stadium. It blew my mind and sparked a love of live music which I still have today. For me, nothing beats the adrenaline and immediacy of live music, of standing side by side with other sweaty bodies as you sing loud to your heart’s desire. When an audience bears witness to the most incredible live-music moment, together, it’s akin to having a religious experience, with the bridge of a song acting as the holder of a thousand hearts. It’s beautiful.
It’s a feeling I want my children to grow up enjoying, and appreciate that it’s a moment that cannot be recreated through a random account on TikTok, or shared by a mate on Snapchat. New music is growing on these platforms, which is amazing, but live music is a different beast. It takes a different level of attention to sit through and enjoy two halves of a gig (including the songs you’re not keen on), rather than sit at home scrolling through endless 30-second clips of music. This is part of the reason I’ve started my kid’s love of live music early, because I see it as my responsibility as a parent to make sure they understand the difference as soon as possible, before the apps intervene later in their lives.
Within our busy lives as working parents, should we choose to not blindly let our kids walk into situations where apps control their attention, not us? Growing up, we didn’t have anything like the choices they have now. If we didn’t like an episode of He-Man, we had to suck it up and watch it. And don’t get me started on the endless ads we had to sit through when watching SM-TV on a Saturday morning. But this helped us develop a longer attention span, something that we didn’t understand at the time is precious. But by allowing our kids to flick through shows at will, are we helping to create a bigger problem that we actually do have control over?
So, for example, my two love a bit of CBBC and Newsround in the morning because they’re not allowed to flick through streaming sites before school and nursery. We do it so that they have a bit of calm before the school/nursery storm (and, yes, I know we should probably go down the no TV route, but we’re two working parents with two young kids – we’re not saints).
Does it work attention-span wise? Honestly, I’ve got no idea, but at this point I’ll try anything to consciously fight back against the attention-span drain caused by the apps. And I believe it’s something we should all try to consciously do as parents, because how can we complain about behaviour exhibited by our teenagers, when we had a chance to get a firmer hold on it in their younger years?
I’m fighting to improve my kids’ attention spans (and, yes, it involves CBBC)
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14.04.2024
There’s one complaint I hear a lot from my parent mates: the ever-shortening attention spans of their kids. What with advancements in technology, and the utter joy young people get from apps such as TikTok and Snapchat, consuming entertainment in short bursts is becoming the preferred method. I think the worry we all have as parents is what impact that will have on our kids later on in life. What happens if they simply can’t concentrate on anything for long enough?
It’s hard for us because it’s a world that we as adults are navigating for the first time – it was just never like this when we were growing up. And yes, before nay-sayers start complaining, I know each generation goes through stuff the previous generation did not, but the pace of the change is the thing we’re all finding difficult. It’s hard to keep up.
But what responsibility do we have as parents to not allow technology to completely take over the pace at which our kids develop? It’s something that’s been playing on my mind for a while now, as my two start getting older.
I took them to their first gig at the start of........
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