Attention Spans, Politics and Populism: Why Does It Work

Shakespeare’s first performed plays occurred in the late 16th century, the colour television was first demonstrated in 1928, the first YouTube video (‘Me at the zoo’, uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim) was released approximately 23 years ago, and the modern social media titan, TikTok, was created approximately 10 years ago. 

The final marked an important, dangerous and disquieting epoch in entertainment. Though the claim that human attention span has dropped under that of a goldfish remains an incontrovertibly proven fallacy, in the past 20 years alone, the average amount of time a person can spend focused on a task digitally has plummeted from two and a half minutes to just 47 seconds. 47 seconds before we check the time, fiddle with our phones and lose our train of thought. Addiction to short-form content as such has greatly contributed to this collapse. 

To put it plainly, attention is a digital drug. It harnesses mass amounts of political, economic and social sway. For instance, some experiments have shown that approximately 30% of videos on an average TikTok feed are attempting to get the viewer to buy a product or service, with about half of those being paid advertisements. As a result, the economic incentives behind capturing attention are substantial. With TikTok’s revenue increasing by approximately 43% from 2023 to 2024, and around 77% of that revenue derived from advertising, the profitability of controlling mass attention becomes unmistakably clear. 

While calling attention a dangerous drug, in the sense that it would damage one’s health upon consumption, may seem to be an overstatement, it vastly isn’t. The quest for dopamine from scrolling is one that for many destroys sleep patterns, and can inadvertently harm the level of attention we pay to our loved ones and our personal health and function. Scientifically, greater rates of scrolling and ‘vamping’ have been seen to contribute to higher levels of cortisol, anxiety and depression. Effects that hinder productivity, damage mood and harm wellbeing. 

Politically, short-form content as a way to garner support electorally has emerged as somewhat of a groundbreaking phenomenon. The initial use of social media in the early 2000s showed the world of politics how valuable it is as a means of gaining votes for politicians and parties. Former President Obama’s use of social media was particularly successful; Obama was the first US president to create a Twitter (now X) account, and in his 2008 presidential campaign advertised effectively on social networking sites, having more friends on Facebook and Myspace and more followers on Twitter than his opponent and eventual runner-up, John McCain.

In the 2024 UK General Election, 43% of voters got news from social media. More interestingly, among 18–24-year-olds, 55% got their news from TikTok. The Conservatives, and more so Labour, spent millions on digital advertising, but the role of short-form content in politics can be seen from a more interesting angle when looking at Reform UK’s use of social media. As of 2026, Reform UK’s official TikTok account sits at around 477,000 followers, more than Labour (approximately 248,000) and the Conservatives (approximately 185,000) combined. This suggests that social media and short-form content as a vehicle for the promotion of populist agendas is rather efficacious. What, then, accounts for this?

Well, boringly, it is the algorithm that many of these social media sites profit from. Algorithms are fuelled by strong, simple and inflated emotions of anger, fear and outrage; the seeds of many populist movements. Platforms push what gets engagement, and naturally, humans seek controversy. The role of social media in simplifying the search for such controversy, however, has exacerbated the threat to modern political stability to an extent never before seen. The spectre of populism is seemingly haunting Europe, making significant gains in countries like France, the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary (though this may change).

Another important angle on the proposed question is the focus on misinformation and/or misrepresentation of ideas and events. It would be impossible not to mention Trumpism in relation to this. Trump has frequently capitalised on repeating claims that viewers may only catch glimpses of, often without proper context. As a result, many may draw inaccurate and absurd conclusions that ultimately reinforce his rhetoric, driven by a mix of ignorance and perhaps predilection. In Trump’s speech at Davos in 2026, a range of misleading statements were made, including the suggestion that the US once owned Greenland and the claim that China has zero wind farms, despite being the world’s leading producer of wind energy. However, the average social media user is far less likely to read a 1000-word-long article in which such claims are exposed than to come across a short, 5-second clip communicating such falsities.

The dynamics observed here are not entirely new; rather, they represent a technological evolution of longstanding methods of mass persuasion. Just as physical propaganda in the 20th century sought to mobilise populations through simplified and emotionally charged messaging, modern algorithms perform a similar function, though at an unprecedented scale and speed. If this trajectory continues, the erosion of sustained attention may prove to be one of the most significant and underappreciated threats to modern democratic society. 

 It is clear that greater action and accountability must be taken by individuals concerning our awareness of the role social media plays in influencing our political decisions and views. Though the wider benefits of social media may be more preponderant than the downsides, neglect of the political impacts of social media’s capitalisation in the attention market may result in politicians and parties gaining power from sheer short-term appeal rather than reasoned judgement. Power is increasingly derived through the manipulation of attention, emotion and perception. In this sense, algorithms may come to control politics more than actuality. 

 Zain Khwaja L6B

CNN, You’ll likely move on in 47 seconds. Can I hold your attention a little longer? 2026.

Business of Apps, TikTok Statistics 2026.

Stanford Graduate School of Business, Obama and the Power of Social Media and Technology, 2008. YouGov, How are Britons getting news during the 2024 general election?, 2024

BBC News, [Fact-checking Trump's Davos speech], 2026.