Sociological Imagination: Behavior, Decisions, And Personality

The sociological imagination is a process that involves looking at myself less as an individual who makes independent decisions and more as a piece of the whole society that I am a part of. The sociological imagination involves consciously studying my behavior, decisions, and personality and connecting it to my time period, gender, age, and other surroundings. The sociological imagination can be both comforting and frightening. It is comforting because it helps individuals recognize that they are not alone in their experiences and that they are simply a product of their society. It can be frightening because it is often unsettling to view yourself, someone you believe to be unique and irreplaceable, as a small part of a whole with many others similar to you.
According to my parents, my inability to concentrate can be attributed solely to my smart
phone. This may be partially true, but there are larger issues at play. Short attention spans are a trademark of the millennials across the United States, but in recent years this issue has been the topic of discussion more than ever. Attention Deficit Disorder is less like a disorder and more like a regularity and this can be credited to my geography, my age, and the time period I live in.
In the town I grew up in practically, every teenager owned an IPhone.
Teens carried their phones at all times and social media was directly correlated with popularity. Because of this, my peers and I were constantly glued to our phones. The epidemic of phone and social media addiction makes it difficult for teens to leave their phones alone for more than a couple minutes. Throughout high school I struggled to listen in class and focus for seven hours a day. Homework was even worse. The constant distraction of my phone made a one hour assignment take two. When it comes to doing activities I do not enjoy doing, I usually will pull out my phone for entertainment. Eventually, it came to be something I depended on when I did not feel like doing work. Millennials find it difficult to focus for long periods of time without using their phones simultaneously, seeking the immediate gratification of a nine second snapchat video, one-hundred-and-forty-character tweet, and an easily accessible picture on Instagram. These features that technology provides minimizes the teenage attention span while offering short term
entertainment.
As an eighteen-year-old in college, I am inclined to follow social trends such as popular music and television shows. Twenty minute shows such as Family Guy offer brief entertainment with a shallow plot that requires little critical thinking. When comparing this to shows such as Handmaid’s Tale, which requires a high level of critical thinking, teens will often choose the simpler, less confusing show. This decision limits them from practicing deep thinking and encourages a short attention span.
My generation is the most plugged in generation of all time. We have phones, laptops, and television. If I was born between the 1960’s and 1980’s I would most likely have a television but no cell phone. The shows on television within this time period were still short, and usually not very complex, but people did not binge watch television like they do today. Because of this, they had time to learn new skills and the discipline to focus for longer periods of time. Women born in the 1800’s were jack-of-all-trades with regards to artistic skills. They were expected to know how to draw, paint, and play piano. Because of the lack of technology available, young women were talented in multiple different skills. It can be inferred that because they had less distractions, they could focus for longer periods of time, and have a multitude of skills. Women from third world countries today most likely do not have issues with attention span because of the lack of technology and leisure time available to them. They have to struggle to provide for their families every day and therefore do not have time to waste on mindless distractions.