Attention Spans

[RubberDucky451]

I've noticed that i possess an incredibly short attention span. If a video on youtube doesn't start I'll skip the first 30 seconds. I've also found books are harder to read and i need to continually double task.

So, why is this? Is it our generation that wants everything in 10 seconds? Is it teenage impatience or something deeper?

Discuss!!

 

[RobertJ]

I find that the same thing is happening to me, I can't even finish reading half the posts I see on here.
I think for me it has to do with the fact I'm online, and there are so many diversions and ways to get sidetracked that I can't focus on one thing too long with so many other possibilities tugging at me.
If I'm in a room without access to the internet I find that I can much more easily get into a book and read it without feeling the need to do something else.

 

[LucasM]

Interest

 

[Artifice Orisit]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TroperTales/AttentionDeficitOohShiny

I managed to get halfway through...

 

[Seducer of the Homeless]

my attention span is shorter than a Mayfly's Penis

 

[Vegard Pompey]

...I see it's not just me. Good.

 

[Ermine]

For me, it depends on how much I grasp the material. For example, I'm trying to read Godel, Escher, and Bach, but I'm having a very hard time doing so due to my attention span, and my lack of knowledge when it comes to high level math and computer science. It's very tedious as a result, though I do find the concepts interesting. However, when the book is discussing Escher and Bach, or is in the middle of an allegorical dialogue, I understand much better and have a much longer attention span because I know something about Bach/general music theory and Escher. And the dialogues are entertaining no matter who you are, and I like allegories.

So my attention span is much longer if I have background knowledge about what I'm doing.

 

[Weliddryn]

I am relatively new to the internet [Jan 2009 being when I first began my internet exploration] and since frequenting it my attention span is /terrible/. This is probably due to having at least 5+ chats going on simultaneously, plus around 6 tabs open and frequenting various forums. The internet allows one to multi-task extensively and easily, which is beneficial in many ways, but I`ve not read a book in some time which is /weird/ for me.

There is a significant correlation between impatience/attention span and technology, I think, the question is how /much/ of an impact does this have and what are the consequences resulting from it?
[Is it odd that my increase in posts could very well be due to I am using a DS, thus making me focus on one thing at a time despite it being tedious? ;p ]

 

[RobertJ]

For example, I totally zonked out before I finished Ermine's post.

 

[Ermine]

Really? It wasn't even that long. But I guess I don't blame you if you haven't read the book I'm talking about. I really only zonk out for Coberst-sized posts unless I'm very interested.

 

[Waterstiller]

I am relatively new to the internet [Jan 2009 being when I first began my internet exploration] and since frequenting it my attention span is /terrible/.

You found INTPf your first month of internet exploration?

That's kind of amazing.

 

[LucielaMinerva]

Must be the internets.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I find myself skipping 1 to 2/3 of the posts here, I probably miss a lot of good posts but my mind temporarily turns to mush after reading so much information

 

[Adamastor]

It's quite a relief to see that I'm not the only one that skips a good deal of the posts here, though I like to feel that I grasped the general Idea ;x This is funny because my posts are gigantic in general.

There is a significant correlation between impatience/attention span and technology, I think, the question is how /much/ of an impact does this have and what are the consequences resulting from it?

It's natural to get used to sigh-seeing things (i.e switching focus between things), the world the internet provides is huge that that is the only way to select information among all of its hugeness.
This is not good lol, because this proved to be an a bad habit outside the internet too (detaching at a library IS NOT the same as reading on wikipedia).

Ermine
Really? It wasn't even that long. But I guess I don't blame you if you haven't read the book I'm talking about. I really only zonk out for Coberst-sized posts unless I'm very interested.

I'm curious. What books are these? I'm specially interest in the music theory ones o.o

 

[Weliddryn]

You found INTPf your first month of internet exploration?

That's kind of amazing.

I got connections. :3

 

[Ermine]

I'm curious. What books are these? I'm specially interest in the music theory ones o.o

It's all one book. Godel, Escher, and Bach - Hofstadter. Proceed with caution, as it's a long, involved book that requires a lot of background knowledge to understand it easily.

 

[Sapphire Harp]

Well, I'm just going drive a banner into the ground and call for an opposition party to assemble...

When it comes to threads, I'm generally reading all or nothing. If I'm interested in the thread - I'll be reading pretty much every post. Especially if I'm planning on replying.

If I'm interested, but I don't have the focus available, I tend to save it for later... potentially not getting back around to it, but always meaning to. I have a very long memory for such things...

Honestly, I find skipping posts pretty disappointing... I mean, you -are- interested in the topic being discussed, right? You opened up the page to read it, yes?

* * * * *
​

P.S. Four months ago I had a thread somewhat about this topic, coming from the angle of willingness to read long posts...
​

 

[didyouknow]

*11 hours later*

Wow. Maybe my attention span is that bad.

At around 5pm yesterday I found this page. I left it in a tab while I went off to do other things. It's now 4am.

I was watching music videos on tv and reading forum posts. Then watching you tube videos about how to pronounce Chinese properly which turned into deviant art, which turned into you tube videos on Roy Zimmerman. That somehow turned into a website called "What on Earth" where I found a book entitled "Monty Python and Philosophy" and proclaimed, "MY LIFE IS COMPLETE".

That (inevitably?) turned into wikipedia, which turned into "Irregular Webcomic" and XKCD. More wikipedia articles on Rene Magritte, the 'human condition' and finally... attention spans.

Of course it would be silly to do all this without breaks, I was also playing keyboard, ds and watching tv while doing these.

And no, I haven't finished the tv tropes article yet. -.-

*EDIT: Wait, I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be doing that overdue assignment... yeah.

 

[LucielaMinerva]

my. something really needs to be done about Teh Internets.

 

[RubberDucky451]

*11 hours later*

Wow. Maybe my attention span is that bad.

At around 5pm yesterday I found this page. I left it in a tab while I went off to do other things. It's now 4am.

I was watching music videos on tv and reading forum posts. Then watching you tube videos about how to pronounce Chinese properly which turned into deviant art, which turned into you tube videos on Roy Zimmerman. That somehow turned into a website called "What on Earth" where I found a book entitled "Monty Python and Philosophy" and proclaimed, "MY LIFE IS COMPLETE".

That (inevitably?) turned into wikipedia, which turned into "Irregular Webcomic" and XKCD. More wikipedia articles on Rene Magritte, the 'human condition' and finally... attention spans.

Of course it would be silly to do all this without breaks, I was also playing keyboard, ds and watching tv while doing these.

And no, I haven't finished the tv tropes article yet. -.-

*EDIT: Wait, I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be doing that overdue assignment... yeah.

I'm more surprised that you remembered what you did, most of my activities are inaccessible.

 

[didyouknow]

I'm more surprised that you remembered what you did, most of my activities are inaccessible.

That is called the magic of firefox browser history.

Screw it, these emoticons are better...

 

[James Black]

To agree with what everyone else has said, my attention span is horrible. I read the first few sentences of the first few posts on the first page and a half. Once I got to Sapphire Harp and didyouknow's posts I gave up on reading anymore.

 

[Sapphire Harp]

To put it another way... forums are the equivalent of a conversation. Reading posts amounts to listening...

So, if you're skipping past everything, it's because you're here simply to talk at people? (Imagining they're not ignoring you, too?)
​

 

[Anthile]

Well, I'm just going drive a banner into the ground and call for an opposition party to assemble...

When it comes to threads, I'm generally reading all or nothing. If I'm interested in the thread - I'll be reading pretty much every post. Especially if I'm planning on replying.

If I'm interested, but I don't have the focus available, I tend to save it for later... potentially not getting back around to it, but always meaning to. I have a very long memory for such things...

Honestly, I find skipping posts pretty disappointing... I mean, you -are- interested in the topic being discussed, right? You opened up the page to read it, yes?

* * * * *
​

P.S. Four months ago I had a thread somewhat about this topic, coming from the angle of willingness to read long posts...
​

I fully agree with that. In my opinion it's mandatory to read all the other postings before I post myself and everything else would be disrespectful towards the other members.
At least, this thread explain why there are so many postings with basically the same content and so many multiple threads for one and the same topic.

 

[Linada]

The attention span of a kitten, on catnip, in a wool shop. Somewhere between dazed and high.

I do try very hard to read all the posts in a thread. Can be hard work though.