Is America’s Short Attention Span Causing Baseball’s Decline?

I don’t see how we can improve baseball’s popularity in the face of cultural preferences that run counter to the essence of the game. What was once “America’s Pastime” may become a thing of the past.

When the NBA and NHL playoffs end in June Major League Baseball (MLB) will be the primary viewing option for most Americans. Or will it?

It used to be that baseball would get all the attention it deserved. The sport was dubbed “America’s Pastime,” after all. But does baseball still measure up to that standard?

I don’t think so. The reasons are many, I believe, but the driving factor may be America’s short attention span.

Courtesy: EGC Group

We’re living in an era controlled by smart phones and tablets. Many of us would rather have a conversation with someone miles away via social media than chat with somebody right there in the room. It’s a day when Snapchat—one of the most popular apps—has a maximum viewing time of just 10 seconds.

That’s what America has become. And it’s contributing to baseball’s decline. How? The rhythm of the game and the rhythm of society don’t align very well.

Let’s face it: baseball is a unique sport. The game unfolds slowly, broken up into individualized at-bats, the duration of which can range from 1-10 or more pitches. In theory, it can take as long as six at-bats just to scratch across one run. And there’s no clock to regulate the pace of play.

What makes baseball exciting, though, is that things can change in a blink of an eye. A team can be facing a three-run deficit and automatically jump in front with a Grand Slam. Just like that!

The episodic nature of baseball action doesn’t jibe with a society obsessed with keeping cell phones close by, hoping to receive a text or share a selfie.

Courtesy: Getty Images

How many times have you been out with friends who are all on their phones? You get out your phone, too, and start scrolling through your apps. You don’t even know what you are looking for … or at … but you do it anyway.

It’s all about what’s happening right here and right now.

Consider the findings reported in Time magazine two years ago. Entitled, “You now have a shorter attention than a goldfish,’ that report revealed the average American attention span has dropped from 12 to 8 seconds since 2000–the year many believe the tech revolution went into full gear.

It’s simple math: a shorter attention spans equal inability (or a lack of wanting) to follow a baseball game–even when people are at a game. The next time you watch at game on TV pay attention to what people sitting behind home plate are doing. Note just how many people are following the action.

I can’t imagine why anybody would WANT to do anything OTHER than take in the action at a baseball game. I say that as a fan who has had the joy of sitting eight rows behind the St. Louis Cardinals’ dugout. You’re close enough to make out parts of the players and mangers’ dugout conversations. That’s not to speak of the thrilling possibility of catching a ball from Yadier Molina, who just may be the greatest defensive catcher of our time.

Outside of taking pictures, why would people want to focus on “distractions” rather than on the game? Perhaps it’s because what I call “distractions” really aren’t distractions at all.

That’s because everything is “of a context” and baseball is a game that fits the time when it was invented, way back in 1839. It’s slow at times. It’s a a big chess match. You hit. You field. You … well … just play ball.

It was the rage back then, booming in popularity. The first MLB team, the Cincinnati Reds (then Red Stockings), formed in 1869. Americans flocked to the ballparks to watch games. Years later, they’d listen on radios if they couldn’t make it out to the ballpark.

Yeah, some fans still follow the game that closely. Just not enough. And the solution isn’t a matter of putting a clock on the game as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has proposed.

The solution to baseball’s decline is on us–the man and woman in the mirror.

Some think–I’m one of them–that it’s a generational issue. Our parents either encouraged or didn’t discourage behaviors that fostered an inability to focus for longer periods of time. Kids used to read books. Now most play games on an IPad.

So I don’t see how we can improve baseball’s popularity in the face of social trends and preferences that run counter to the very essence of the game.

What was America’s Pastime may soon become a thing of the past.