What does modern learning content actually look like — and why is it needed in the attention economy?

Confession time: Last week, YouTube was my most-used app. I clocked up sixteen hours of screen time. Welp!

I'd love to tell you those 16 hours were spent watching documentaries, DIY tutorials, and other productive videos. It wasn't. I probably couldn't even tell you what one of the videos was about.

YouTube was on in the background for most of this time. It ran while I cooked dinner, washed the car and, played video games. It ran while I worked (which I'd appreciate you keeping between us).

Video has become the thing I put on while I get something else done. I doubt I'm unusual in that. In fact, I know I'm not — because L&D has the same problem.

Why do learners say training works and still tune out?

A recent survey made me look at my screen time differently.

Training Industry asked more than 1,200 learners about their experience of corporate training in 2026. More than two-thirds (67%) say they multitask during it: checking email, doing other work, the usual. Training has become background content; it plays while people get on with their day.

And like the 16 hours of YouTube videos I watched last week, learners aren't committing much of that information to memory. In fact, they're rather disengaged by today's L&D content.

• 56% say they rarely feel mentally engaged during training.
• 71% say training feels more like a check-the-box activity than a real opportunity to develop.
• 63% say the way training is delivered, including long videos and information-dense slides, makes it hard to stay focused.

So is video training content becoming the PowerPoint presentation of the 2020s? The outdated, ineffective type of training that simply cant't hold the attention of modern audiences? I think there's a strong case for that.

Which makes the logical follow-up question obvious.

What does modern learning content actually look like?

Today's L&D teams need learning content to be a lot of things at the same time:

• Engaging and effective.
• Easy to create (and update).
• Simple to scale across large teams and departments.
• Immersive – simulates a realistic environment.
• Cost-effective.
• Possible to integrate into LMS and HR systems.

So now let's look at some modern types of learning content:

• Interactive videos.
• VR and AR experiences.
• Gamified challenges.
• AI roleplay and scenario-based learning.
• Virtual labs and sandboxes.

So let's evaluate how each type works to meet the goals of L&D departments.

How to gauge the ROI of learning content?

There are at least two tests you can use to assess modern learning content, how it might meet your learning goals, and how it might return on your investment.

Test 1: Does the learner do something?

Content where the learner is a spectator has a ceiling, however well produced it is. Content where the learner has to make a decision, say the words out loud, read the other person's reaction and live with the outcome sits in a different category. Taking action demands more attention.

This matters most for human skills: the negotiation, the difficult piece of feedback, the customer complaint that starts reasonable and doesn't stay that way.

ROI comes from training effectiveness — how well training makes that person better at their job.

My ice-cold take: Nobody has ever effectively learned to de-escalate an angry person by watching a video about de-escalating angry people, even if they're not multi-tasking throughout it.

Test 2: Can you rebuild it as fast as the business changes?

Is there anything more soul-destroying than having to scrap a great created piece of content because something out of your control changed?

It means a beautifully designed module describing a product you stopped selling in Q1 becomes a museum piece, however good the instructional design was.

AI isn't solving this, it's making it worse. IBM research shows that the lifespan of a skill has shrunk from 10 years to only four, as constant change causes people to need much more regular re-training. Forbes believes AI is causing this squeeze.

So the second test is whether your means and tools for creating content is modern enough to be quick and efficient. If refreshing a scenario takes a quarter and a budget request, your content will struggle to meet the meaning of 'modern', and hit a return on investment that leadership teams require.

How can you tell if your learning content is modern?

At this point I want to say that 'modern' doesn't mean new and shiny. Great learning content doesn't even have to be modern — it has to be great.

So if your current learning content is meeting those criteria I've mentioned — of being engaging and effective; easy to create (and update); simple to scale across teams and departments; immersive/realistic; cost-effective; and easy to integrate — it's already great.

I use the word modern to mean more likely to achieve all of those things more often than not.

I think there are another six questions you can use to know if you need to modernize your learning content (and, in the immortal words of David Beckham in that meme: be honest):

1. Does the learner make decisions, or absorb information?
2. Could they complete it while checking email?
3. How long would it take to update if the business changed tomorrow?
4. When did you last refresh it, and was that a choice or a budget outcome?
5. Do learners get feedback in the moment, or a score later?
6. Do you have data on how people perform, or just on completion rates?

If most of your answers point the wrong way, that's a symptom of the old production math rather than a judgment on your team.

So let my 16 hours of background YouTube mean something (please!) Let it highlight something about creating great L&D content in the attention economy.

Attention goes where something is happening. Training that asks nothing of a learner will always lose to whatever else is on their second screen, and training that puts them in the room has a fighting chance.