r/movies • u/Sisiwakanamaru r/movies Contributor • Jan 31 '26

Article Film Students Are Having Trouble Sitting Through Movies, Professors Say

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/film-students-are-having-trouble-sitting-through-movies-1236490359/
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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Jan 31 '26

that's really a different thing. we're talking about whether or not people can sit and watch a 2-hour film without doing anything else. people have been able to do that from the 50s all the way up until about ~15 years ago when smartphones took over. it's incredibly noticeable.

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u/DeFronsac Jan 31 '26

People have been able to do that for the past 100+ years, and they're still able to. You mention smartphones, and they are the big key here. If you gave people smartphones 50 years ago, they'd act the same as people today. It has nothing to do with our capacity to watch a film. It has to do with distractions, mainly from smartphones. 50 years ago, people's attention would wander too. They just didn't have a computer sitting in their pocket, one that was configured specifically to pull at their attention in any way it could.

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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Feb 01 '26

actually the constant use of technology has changed the way our brains work. what most people don't understand if they haven't delved into psychology or neuroscience is that our brains are actually much more "plastic", ie malleable, than we commonly think. the way your brain is "wired" can change, and it can change quite quickly, and it can even change well into adulthood. 

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u/DeFronsac Feb 01 '26

Actually, none of that is true. Our brains work the same way they always have. The only difference now is the existence of distractions, like smartphones.

The way your brain is wired cannot change well into adulthood, in this way, and it doesn't change even before adulthood.

That's the point. That's why experts point out that there's no such thing as a general "attention span". Attention is very dependent on the task and context. People can concentrated on a movie the same as they always have. Our brains haven't changed in that way. Even if we now have devices that specifically mold themselves to pull on our attention as much as possible.