Are our attention spans getting shorter or are we changing the way we communicate? I look at the students that I lecture to in the journalism department as an example of the changing times. I can give a lecture while they are texting, Facebooking, or e-mailing but at the same time they are able to listen to what I’m saying and still participate in the discussion. While many adults would not be able to do two things at once well, there is a new generation that may argue it’s not a shorter attention span, it’s a different attention span.
I think whenever we discuss change in our society, whether it be more people turning to the web instead of the newspaper for their daily news content, change is difficult in our society. We get used to life one way and then when something is introduced that will cause some flux to the norm we freak out and start writing articles that this could be the end of blah, blah, blah. It seems that we automatically assume that whatever the change is, it can’t be good for ourselves. That may not be the case for one segment of the population that knows no different. It’s us older folks that have to learn to adapt and that’s hard.
On the other hand, I do have to agree there is an overabundance of information out there. Where do you get your news from? Which sites do you trust? How many can one look at in one day? I haven’t read any research on the topic but I would be interested to know how many sites the average person visits on a given day. I’m talking about checking out random sites, I’m thinking of sites they check on a daily basis - such as e-mail, DrudgeReport, Facebook, Statesman, KXAN (of course!), etc. While there is a lot out there I think we find ways to filter it by going to the same websites day after day, while still exploring other locations that we find through links. It’s like grocery shopping, we go to the same HEB every week for our big food purchase but during the week you may run to Whole Foods or Wheatsville for one or two products. The web is kind of the same way in my opinion.
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