Your Attention, Please?

Why short-form platforms, not the content, are poisonous.

I was listening to my friend today.

He told me that there’s nothing inherently wrong with short-form content platforms like TikTok or Twitter. Sure, you can’t have super-long intellectual debates, but you can have starts of ideas. You can get the ball rolling.

The trouble is, my friend is forgetting what should happen after you get the ball rolling: The ball should continue rolling.

Do not run quickly from one thought to another. This will sooner scatter your thoughts than gather them and influence the soul.

• St. Theophan the Recluse

The danger of short-form content isn’t the first piece of short-form content - it’s the piece that comes after it. It’s one thing to read a tweet and then put your phone down. To mull on what you’ve read for a while - to really let it penetrate you (assuming it's worth doing so).

The short thought is not a trouble in itself.

The short thought tossed amongst many others, competing for our attention, trying to be digested, leaves us intellectually bloated, constipated, and nauseous. One thought at a time please.

Bring every thought into feeling and do not let it go until it penetrates the heart.

• St Theophan the Recluse