In the age of social media and short-form content, many people insist that our attention spans are getting shorter. But historian Daniel Immerwahr reminds us that people have cried wolf for centuries about technology hijacking our attention. In this episode, Adam and Daniel dive into evidence that what’s changing is not our attention spans, but the objects of our focus. They also discuss moral panics of the past, compare the cognitive benefits of video games and the opera, and debate whether or not Marvel movies are a waste of time.

Follow

Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/)

Guest: Daniel Immerwahr (Website: history.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core-faculty/daniel-immerwahr.html) 

Links

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

Subscribe to TED 

Instagram: @ted

YouTube: @TED

TikTok: @tedtoks

LinkedIn: @ted-conferences

Website: ted.com

Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/rethinking-with-adam-grant-transcripts

Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:

TEDNext: ted.com/futureyou

ReThinking is produced by Cosmic Standard. Our Senior Producer is Jessica Glazer, our Engineer is Aja Simpson, our Technical Director is Jacob Winik, and our Executive Producer is Eliza Smith.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.