Tan Laya multimedia producer and creative director now focused on LOVE ARTIFICIAL, a pr

Increase Attention - Increase Income #noticingtheobvious

10 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief panel, the speakers discuss how modern society’s pervasive stress and the rise of ultra‑short social‑media formats (e.g., Instagram Stories) have shortened attention spans, leading people to seek quick, mind‑less content for instant gratification. One speaker recounts attending a literary event featuring author Kate Mosse, noting that the audience was overwhelmingly 70‑plus, highlighting a generational gap in literary engagement. The conversation concludes with the idea that if people felt more secure—through reliable healthcare, stable careers, and overall societal safety—they would be more willing to invest time in longer‑form works like novels, fostering inter‑generational literary communities.

Chapters

Sorry, guys. That's for you.
Thank you.
We live in a society right now where everyone is super stressed. They haven't got time to invest in something long, and that's why I think we have the rise of social media and Instagram and stories, which is 10-second things, right? They just want mindless shit to take them off their problems.
Instant gratification.
I went to a literary event the other night, Kate Mosse, the author, and it's really wonderful to see lots of people 70-plus in the audience. But it's also kind of sad that the only people in the audience were 70-plus.
Yeah, the young people weren't there.
So I'm not down on them. I'd love to see them. But I would love also that those 70-year-olds were complemented with people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. In a society where people feel more secure, that their healthcare needs are taken care of, that their career is taken care of, they'll invest in something longer, like a novel.