First, it was books. Now, it’s films.

A recent article in The Atlantic tells us about The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films.

“I used to think, if homework is watching a movie, that is the best homework ever. But students will not do it.”

— Craig Erpelding, a film professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

While it would be easy for me to point the finger at the younger generation, or social media and tech companies... this one hurts because I see it in myself.

Growing up, I was a big film fan.

I would regularly go to the cinema with a friend (we both had unlimited film membership—and got our money’s worth). And I would wait patiently for my next LoveFilm DVD to arrive in the post, often obscure foreign-language independent films, where you couldn’t guess the plot after a hundred attempts.

Imagine that, having the choice of one film to watch at a time (or maybe two, if you paid for a premium membership). Walking to a post box after enjoying all 120 minutes of the film, now nestled in your coat pocket. Accepting that you’ll now need to wait (potentially days) for the next one to arrive.

Now, with thousands of movies (many of them free with my various streaming subscriptions), I rarely watch them.

That’s partly having kids (and a job, and studying).

But it’s also, as the Atlantic article points out, that it’s hard to do.

Like most things now that require any sustained or meaningful attention, it feels painful.

But that’s the work I must do. I’m fortunate in that I can’t slip too far.

When I work deeply and give something my full attention for a stretch of time (even if that’s on a screen), I don’t just get good work done. My life feels better.

This feeling hints at a solution.

Cal Newport’s podcast (where I discovered the article) suggests we hit the gym. Not to grow our biceps, but to grow our attention spans. If we’re training to watch short clips and read tweets, of course, we’ll get good at doing just that. If we want to get good at sinking into the chair and watching a great movie… we simply need to watch great movies.

Cal starts us out with a list of recommendations for great movies. I’ll post them in the comments below. I would love to hear your suggestions from ones you’ve watched recently to all-time classics.

The Truth About Tech

On the 12th of March, join me in Cardiff for the Centre of Excellence in Child Trauma National Conference. Our theme this year is all about tech, and what happens when it combines with trauma. Look forward to seeing you there.