No, MTV Is Not Shut Down. Here’s How Social Media and Short Attention Spans Created A Global Rumor
If you thought that MTV was going off the air at midnight on New Year’s Eve, you aren’t alone. But there is good news. The channel, once known for playing music videos and introducing viewers to new artists, is alive and well. So, how did the rumor that MTV is going off the air circulate so far and wide on social media? The simple answer is that people got confused by reports about what was happening. Let’s break it down.
MTV is still alive and well around the world, but not in its entirety
It is true that some parts of MTV shut down on New Year’s Eve, but not in the way people might think. The news was reported across several outlets, including People. No shade, but the headlines for some of the articles were so vague that it seemed like all of MTV would be lost. For example, a headline like “MTV Channels Going Offline Like They Began, with The Buggles’ ‘Video Killed the Radio Star‘” makes people at first glance think that all of MTV is going away.
To be fair, if you read the article, or even the subhead just underneath, it gives the clarifying information about how the closures are happening outside of the US. If you scroll even further down, you see that it is predominantly focused on Europe.
MTV announced that it was going to be closing MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live. The countries impacted include the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Australia, and Brazil.
It is very easy for facts and information to get distorted or misunderstood on social media. Who would have imagined that a virtual space built on engagement, quick responses, and little fact-checking could cause such a stir?
It isn’t fully the media’s fault
Social media companies have developed the platforms we use to intentionally alter the way we think and consume content. This is the disruption so many in the tech space celebrated in the early 2010s. Studies show that it is working at an alarming rate, to our detriment.
Researchers have linked social media use to a measurable decline in attention spans. The reason is that social media algorithms are designed to make us crave short-form media. Short-form media is defined as videos that are less than 10 minutes long or written content that is less than 1,200 words.
By being flooded with short-form content, a person’s attention span shrinks, making longer tasks or forms of content feel daunting.
So, when news of an iconic television channel closing down breaks, some people are literally trained to intake the shortest amount of information. Once it starts to spread on social media, it becomes harder to control. We have all seen this in the past.
For example, in 2024, influencers pushed false information about sunscreen giving people skin cancer. Now, sunscreen is safe to use and helps to prevent skin cancer. However, bad information about “chemical absorption” made the rounds as short-form content on social media. It wasn’t long until institutions, like Stanford University, had to start helping to dispel the inaccurate content.
So, fear not. MTV is not going anywhere. Some are pointing to the shift in MTV from focusing away from music as an indicator that something is happening. However, to be fair, MTV stopped focusing on music almost 20 years ago. The loss of “Total Request Live” marked the end of the Music part of MTV.
