In educational institutions across the United States, film professors are facing a perplexing challenge: students enrolled in cinema courses are increasingly unable to sit through entire feature-length films without resorting to their phones. This phenomenon was recently highlighted in a comprehensive report by The Atlantic, which gathered insights from twenty film studies professors nationwide.
Craig Erpelding from the University of Wisconsin at Madison expressed his dismay, noting that what once seemed like enjoyable homework has become a task students are reluctant to do. This shift has been particularly pronounced in the last decade, with the post-pandemic era exacerbating the issue. Students are demonstrating significant difficulty in maintaining focus for the duration of full-length films, a critical component of their coursework.
Malcolm Turvey, who leads the Film and Media Studies Program at Tufts University, attempted to counteract this problem by implementing an electronics ban during screenings. Despite this, he observed that approximately half of his students still sneak glances at their mobile devices. Similarly, Akira Mizuta Lippit of the University of Southern California's film program likened his students' behavior to that of nicotine addicts, unable to resist the pull of their phones during movie screenings.
The problem extends to crucial moments of cinematic artistry. Lippit recounted how, despite being instructed to pay attention to the essential final scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s "The Conversation," several students were still distracted by their phones. This indicates a deeper issue with attention that is not limited to the classroom but reflects broader changes in media consumption habits.
Interestingly, this trend is not only affecting educational settings. Matt Damon, during an appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience," revealed that Netflix advises filmmakers to adapt their content to these changing viewer habits by including early action sequences and repeated plot details to cater to multitasking audiences.
In response to these attention challenges, some professors, like Kyle Stine from Johns Hopkins, are pioneering courses in slow cinema, featuring minimalist films with minimal narrative to encourage extended focus. Rick Warner of the University of North Carolina assigns slow-paced films to strain students' viewing habits and help them retrain their perception and concentration.
This issue parallels a similar concern in literary education. Nicholas Dames of Columbia University has noticed incoming students struggling with complete book readings, a task once deemed routine. This suggests a broader cultural shift in how the digital age is reshaping the capacity for sustained attention in young adults.
