From MySpace to Instagram, the social media spectrum has undergone a revolutionary stylistic transformation. In a short period of time, we have seen a decrease in the attention span among those that interact with social media that directly coincides with the construct of popular media outlets. This theory, constructed on the evaluation of coherent behavior and measures of social media interaction, outlines a potential explanation for why particular outlets become mainstream and ultimately decrease the need for a wide attention span among users.

The best examples of this concept are evident in the platform's post structures. Backtracking to the early 2000s, the first mainstream mega-media outlet thrived among users of all ages; MySpace. The early era of social media made its debut with millions of users interacting among a blog-oriented interface. The posts usually consisted of long bodies of text detailing an array of topics and ideas; an important characteristic in referencing the progression of media outlets.

Looking forward a few years, Facebook arrives on the scene. Now users are able to navigate an interface that features an automatically-updating stream/feed. This minor feature typically goes unnoticed until you recognize that you now have the will to scroll past or through posts as you please (a feature greatly appreciated by those avoiding Facebook rants). The nature of Facebook posts to this day remains typically in paragraph form with the option to include photos.

Moving on to a couple of years later and we are introduced to Twitter. In the releasing of Twitter, we experience a more distinct evolution in the construct of media and its capabilities. Twitter, in its original state, allowed posts to be only 140 characters long (later doubled to 280 characters in November 2017). This is a monumental point to recognize as Twitter exploded as a mainstream media platform for now hundreds of millions of users.

The final platform to recognize is of course, Instagram. After its debut in 2010, Instagram claimed its place among the most used mainstream social media outlets. So why is Instagram relevant to this evaluation? One word-- pictures. The forefront of Instagram posts consist of solely pictures and extremely short videos. Although the platform allows for a short caption under the photo, does that caption really hold that much significance in comparison to the photo? And let goodness forbid anyone post a paragraph in that little happy caption area; we all know good and well that you aren't going to read it.

So why does this matter? Why summarize these mainstream media platforms? It is fair to suggest that our attention spans directly influence this evident evolution of social media. Outlets such as MySpace and Facebook demand a wide user attention span with their extensive paragraph-post orientation. The move to Twitter demonstrated a decrease in that required attention span with the limited character count. It forced users to literalize and compact the message, intent, and mood into a mere 140 characters. Then the move to Instagram further decreased the span by eliminating text from the foreground and replacing it with pictures. Users now do not even have to read to obtain the intent of the post, therefore demonstrating a drastic drop in the required intellectual effort exerted by users. It is also fair to question how social media's evolutionary style has influenced younger generations, as most engage with outlets such as Twitter and Instagram that do not demand a wide attention span. Other outlets such as Vine, with posts consisting of only an 8 second video, also support this concept of a narrowing attention span among modern social media users.

With the world and its vast array of cultures, ideas, and beliefs at our digital fingertips, it is important to step back every once in a while and look at how social media influences us; how much we depend on it, as well as how much its existence and evolution depends on us.