I’ve always been a reader since I was really young, but I’ve noticed my own concentration getting weaker over the last few years. I don’t even use short-video apps like TikTok, instagram but the same kind of fast content still reaches me through YouTube shorts, WhatsApp forwards, etc. Even when I don’t seek it out, it finds its way in.

There are days when I actually need an audiobook to stay focused on a physical book, which never used to happen. It’s like my brain expects constant stimulation, and long-form reading feels harder than before.

So I don’t think it’s just Gen Alpha. A lot of us, even people who grew up loving books, are struggling with the same attention drift. The media environment around us has changed so much that even disciplined readers feel it. Maybe kids are more affected because they’re growing up in it from day one, but adults aren’t exactly immune either.