The Space Between Then and Now: Modern Storytelling

"Storytelling is shaped by the way we engage with it. In the past, narratives unfolded slowly, giving the audience time to reflect and analyze at their own pace. Classic games, podcasts, and films provided the audience with time to settle into the narrative, and for emotions to build up gradually. These slower forms of media created room for reflection and engagement, allowing audiences to process narratives thoughtfully."

"Today, modern storytelling puts the audience in the driver's seat, inviting participation and demanding constant decision making. We can see this in the rise of interactive games and other entertainment. On platforms like YouTube and TikTok, creators compress humor, drama, and emotion into bite-sized bursts, created to encourage rapid engagement. Podcasts are increasingly being designed to be bingeable, with emotion arriving quickly and consistently. Even vlogs condense months of lived experiences into short videos."

"The compression and personalization of modern media also changes the emotional landscape. Fast-paced or short-form content provides quick bursts of dopamine creating short emotional sensations, whereas slower forms tend to focus on depth, presence and reflection. Rapid content delivery usually encourages responses quickly, but this is at the expense of slower, more nuanced emotional resonance. Revisiting older or slower media highlights this because attention, emotional processing, and engagement have devolved alongside it."

Storytelling pacing influences how audiences process narratives and emotions. Slower media like classic games, films, and traditional podcasts allowed gradual emotional buildup, reflection, and thoughtful engagement. Contemporary media compresses content and personalizes experiences, emphasizing interactivity, rapid decision-making, and bite-sized moments on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and bingeable podcasts. Short-form and fast-paced formats generate quick dopamine bursts and prompt rapid responses, while reducing opportunities for nuanced emotional resonance and deep presence. Condensing lived experience into short videos alters attention and emotional processing. Nostalgia for older media underscores changes in consumption habits and the loss of slower narrative depth.

Read at Her Campus