Various studies are being done on how long can any event or an artistic creation hold the public's attention, and findings suggest that there is a collective decline in memory and attention, at a universal level.

A major study has found that recollection of events of popular culture, in a society as a whole, is degrading. 

In media, biographies last longer in memory than current music. Old/retro music is not in communicative memory but is remembered and accessed from the archives.

There are two kinds of memory:

• Communicative: based on current news events and happenings. (eg. a new pop song)
• Cultural: the kind of historic memory, for information that can be accessed in the archives (eg. a biography of a dead celebrity)