Winona Ryder thinks that social media has led to shorter attention spans and younger generations putting off film.
In this article, we will discuss – oh, you’re already skimming, aren’t you? Well, if 450 words is too much then we have to wonder just how you’d fare with a movie that runs {gasp!} two hours! But is that really our fault if that’s just the way media is consumed nowadays? That’s not all media, of course, but in the social media world of reels and shorts, how can studios expect everyone to stay concentrated? Winona Ryder sees this as a disturbing trend as her upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is ready to hit theaters at a brisk 105 minutes.
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Ryder said that she finds younger generations are turned off by longer movies, with that perhaps being a byproduct of social media. As she put it, “I don’t mean to sound so hopeless. There are a few that are just not interested in movies. Like, the first thing they say is, ‘How long is it?’” It might be unfair to generalize these younger viewers as having their attention spans stripped by social media, but consider some of the most popular short form versions: Facebook and Instagram reels are limited to 90 seconds while YouTube Shorts can clock in at 60 seconds. With that, Ryder – who has never been in a movie that was longer than two and a half hours – could have a point, which also hit on a general disinterest in film as a whole. After all, one recent study found that the ideal movie length is just 92 minutes.
In a different interview with Esquire, Ryder pointed to social media leading to a decline in interest in art as a whole. “I just think that social media has changed everything, and I know I sound old. I’m very aware of that…But I just think there was such an abundance: the history of film, the history of photography, it’s so rich, and there’s so much there, and I don’t mean we should go backwards, but I wish and I hope that the younger generation will study that.”
At the time when TikTok videos were limited to three minutes, people were uploading features in chunks, meaning the average film was broken into around 40 pieces on the social media platform. While viewers were still getting the same content, that users were fine watching it in such a way does underline how younger generations are consuming media. So, are they really against a two hour movie or is it just habit to swipe every few minutes?
What impact, if any, do you think social media and short-form media have on younger generations’ attention spans? Do you think they are averse to movies as a whole? Chime in with your thoughts below.