Microsoft was to be delighted: in 2015, a study of its own claimed that digital environments had modified our memory, sometimes reducing it to that of a… goldfish.
For its part, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSQ) calculated, in 2016, that individuals aged 12 to 24 were entertained in front of a screen on average 35 hours per week. A few years earlier, researchers had claimed that an 18-year-old had already been exposed to 33,000 hours of media productions. After two years of the pandemic, these figures are far from falling…
The effects of this consumption are very real: reduced language skills, isolation, loss of sleep, lack of interest in school, reading difficulties, etc. Wouldn’t this consumption also have repercussions on the way in which the public approaches a book, a song, a film, a television series? In addition to the fact that viewing platforms have replaced theatrical cinema and other cultural outings for many, does digital arouse impatience in the face of the rhythm imposed by an artistic work? Does it encourage zapping, thus forcing creators to revise their ambitions downwards?
the work The screens. Uses and effects, from childhood to adulthood (Fides, 2020) presents the sum of scientific studies on the effects of this “overconnection”, diversified and sometimes surprising. Stéphane Labbé, strategic advisor and researcher in the field of books, supervised it.
On the possibility that the phenomenon favors short formats and short forms, he hesitates to comment. “I have no scientific data on this subject, specifies the one who is also a lecturer. But in the digital environment, users’ attention is captured more by video than by photo, and everything must be relatively short. »
According to him, screens should not be demonized so much as the (sometimes abusive) use that many make of them. Especially the children. “If he plays a video game before leaving for school in the morning, says Stéphane Labbé, the child will have already exhausted 40% of his attention span and will have difficulty finishing his day. And there is the whole question of sleep, when learning is consolidated. So a shortened night and a tablet next to the pillow are also a hindrance to concentration and the development of knowledge.
Duration or quality
Long-time music columnist (See, Le Journal de Montreal) then in charge of content at QUB musique before branching off to the communications sector, André Péloquin continues to listen to everything that is being done here and elsewhere. Changes are quite audible, from his point of view. “The beginnings of the songs are often very punchy, the chorus comes faster, in the first 30 seconds, and the goal is to hook the listener. On the contrary, the fade out [baisse du niveau sonore jusqu’au silence à la fin d’une chanson] seems to have become cheesy among young artists, as if the song has to go straight to the point. »
Could this all be Spotify’s fault? Yes and no, thinks André Péloquin. “The algorithms have something to do with it, because they scrutinize our listening habits; long and experimental pieces are not promoted on these platforms. On the other hand, if you love Brian Eno…” But at a time when an artist like Daniel Bélanger decides to launch a new song on TikTok, it’s hard to imagine that these digital spaces don’t change our cultural practices.
Péloquin does not believe that short formats are always popular. He cites the audacity of Hubert Lenoir or Les Louanges, also highlighting the gigantic financial fiasco that was Quibi, a platform for original and short content, with a very short lifespan (from 2018 to 2020!). No matter how long, “quality will always win out,” says the former columnist.
Élodie Comtois, member of the Écosociété editorial team, agrees. No question of simply making it short, “because our concern when publishing a book is to find the right form,” she explains. Citing as examples of bestsellers that defy the fear of bricks (Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari; Capital in the XXIe century, by Thomas Piketty; series Millenniumby Stieg Larsson), she says she sees reading as a pause, a moment of reflection, but no one can devote the same amount of time to it.
This is why some of Écosociété’s successful books can be declined in a second way, sometimes in comic strips, such as Meganticby Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny, sometimes in a more concise essay, such as Tax havens: the Canadian channelby Alain Deneault, now The scam legalized in the Polemos collection.
Capture the attention
And the tyranny of screens? “During the pandemic, people got so digitally tired that they naturally turned to books, and the downtime they represent. To the delight of authors, publishers and booksellers.
If short formats proliferate, it is not only because the public consumes them. The overproduction of videos is generated by users who easily create the best and the worst, each production containing the potential for virality. “Have you ever seen someone share an episode of a TV show? asks Jérôme Hellio, content director at TV5 and Unis, ironically. According to the man who also worked at Tou.tv, short films and short series have also developed out of economic necessity. This is a space of choice for the next generation, because “at one time, funding mechanisms did not exist for web series”.
Like everyone in the television industry, he recognizes that “the challenge is to capture people’s attention”. TikTok and Instagram are territories to occupy, “without putting all your marbles there”. “Not being there, he emphasizes, means disappearing from the field of vision of an entire generation. And the attention of this generation has never been so much in demand, she who is abandoning television more than ever.
While Netflix allows its users to change the viewing speed of what they watch and Amazon’s e-readers scrutinize the one at which readers turn the pages, do digital environments reduce our memories to those of goldfish? Maybe not. At least not yet. In this back-to-school period, less weighed down this time by health instructions, it would be especially time to get out of our jar.
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If he plays a video game before leaving for school in the morning, the child will have already exhausted 40% of his attention span and will have a hard time getting through the day.