The Internet Has Not Killed Reading—or Attention Spans

British technology pioneer Kevin Ashton argues that smartphones represent the culmination of a million-year evolution in human storytelling, enabling anyone to share stories with global audiences for the first time in history. His research challenges widespread beliefs that digital technology is destroying attention spans, showing instead that young people read and write more than previous generations, with social media platforms like TikTok actually driving increased book sales and long-form content consumption.