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How the Internet has Lengthened our Attention Span

virtualeconomics.typepad.com — Where others argue the things like Digg give us A.D.D., this article argues to the contrary.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 25, 2007

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  • noripcord7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+135Are you kidding? If anything, my attention span is noticeably...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+78Yeah, you're
  • saikhan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+48But will it... Damn... I forgot...
  • toxicgonzo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32Too long, didn't read
  • nhassan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18it made me be patient........when i had dial-up
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18My cat's breath smells like cat food
  • SSCrow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19I'm a little lost,

    How has the Internet Lengthened?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16That opinion is sort of conditional. And in reality, I'd say there's no factual evidence to support what this guy is saying. He's just guessing.
  • ihatemakingscre, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17hey, everyone's making jokes about...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14krrrr - EEEEK - blaaaa - aKKKK - neuuuUU - ARRRK
    gotta love that sound of dialup.... imagine how mch our grandchildren will think we're crazy when we imitate that sound:
    "hey kids, when i was young, the internet made a funny sound [see above]"
  • KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11lack of attention span joke
  • saikhan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Where?
  • twtmc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Hey look, a story about videogames....a new one about iPhone...oh my god! VIDEO GAMES!....IPHONE!.....*insert funny video of a cat that you saw 7 years ago*
  • notbrittish788, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8How many digg users does it take to screw in a lightbulb?


    Wana go ride a bike?
  • rk_cr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7This guy is basically saying that the Internet has lengthened our attention span because we're downloading television onto it.

    Say what?
  • sirloin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Oh he is comepletly wrong.. when peopel start talking i look for the video scroll bar. WHy dont people have a next button... i am done on this subject lets move on..I would point out more examples but i am already bored with this and onto another digg.
  • blizzok, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9You guys are acting like candlejack's name wa
  • SharkyTech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I dugg it for the summary, but I couldn't be bothered reading the article....
  • hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5theres this...
    John Suler, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Science and Technology Center Rider University
    This hypertext book explores the psychological aspects of environments created by computers and online networks. It presents an evolving conceptual framework for understanding how people react to and behave within cyberspace: what I call "the psychology of cyberspace" - or simply "cyberpsychology."
    in order to make these readings accessible to as many people as possible, I have written them in a style that is not overly abstract or technical.
    http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psycyber.html

    i like his zen stories site
    http://www.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/whytell.html
  • jazbek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I couldn't focus long enough to read that whole article, I tried like 3 times, but
  • superrcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5People really need to separate ADD and ADHD away from the common occasional short attention span. People casually say they think they have ADD because they have a lot going on and get distracted. People diagnosed with ADD and ADHD do not have a short attention span, they have a problem with attention to both extremes where either they can not pay attention to something for extended periods of time or they sometime pay attention to something for too long, sometimes called hyperfocus. When that is the case, you can not distract the person from whatever they are doing to get them to do something else.

    I wish the stereotyping and joking of ADD and ADHD would stop, because it is pretty difficult to deal with for some people.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5maybe this article was intended for internet explorer users. the ones who don't know any better.
    It sure doesn't help that i have 93 tabs open, and i'm contantly switching between them.
    Checking Gmail, F5'ing the digg homepage... you know... the usual
  • Feebriel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This is really interesting. I always thought that the internet was beginning to be geared more towards those who had A.D.D., especially since tabbed browsing came along.

    "Oh, I better go to thi- Oh, okay, my e-mai- Crap! I was looking for that torren- Ah! I need to check out my banking onli- Dammit, my e-mails!"

    That's actually my cousin's conversation with the computer. She feels she needs to vocalize it to keep it all sorted out...By screaming at the top of her lungs at the computer monitor. This is why I think that it's gotten so bad.

    I dunno, I've heard so many stories about global waring being an issue, and it not being an issue, this could just be another one of those kinds of things, where it could be the cause or bane of A.D.D.. If that makes any sense.

    I'll shut up now.
  • Tunguska, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4How can you argue a point in about 4 paragraphs?
  • ray901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3We may have increased our attention span, but just spend a few days on digg and it will become obvious that we have also seriously degraded our critical thinking skills.
  • anenokoji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't think this equates to better attention span. I think this is worse. Sure we may spend longer time on digg, but realistically? The content is very very dynamic. We may spend 30 to 60 seconds on a site, peruse through an article, read the first paragraph. Whatever, but come back to digg doesn't equate to longer attention span, it just means we're tired of old crap and want new crap. I don't particularly care for digg that much, lots of dupes, and uninteresting articles. But, I come here for the amount of articles, things like engadget and slashdot udpate much more slowly, but offer better content.
  • cracell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Um.....none of this makes sense. The article is simply saying that the internet caters to us ADD kids. Mainly cause we made it.

    However I would still like to be able to read my own writing, remember what I just said, and stop forgetting to zip my pants. The internet has yet to fix this.
  • BuddhaManFizz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't know about you all but where I'm from most people don't know how to use Bitorrent. If my mom or sister or whatever miss an episode of Lost or 24 or whatever series show, they don't hop on the Internet to download it, they don't know how to. I have to believe that most people, if not morally opposed to downloading content, don't have the technical know-how to do so. Therefore, I can't believe that part of this argument. TiVO, that's more believable but that's not the point: none of this has ANYTHING to do with attention spans anyway, just content availability.

    buried as crap
  • GrantTheGr8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Tunguska: I think the writer got bored and went back to watching downloaded episodes of Lost.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6oh look ! a puppy !
    oh look ! my stapler !
    oh look ! another iPhone article !
    .....giraffe....
  • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Is it me or is this article somewhat incoherent? I've read it 3 times and I still don't understand how they're making the logical jump from "Internet ADD" to TV production trends. Scripted TV may be getting more plot driven due to DVD/DVR (and perhaps even BT to some degree) but how does this relate to the articles I read online or the clips I watch on YouTube? Two totally different formats. ...and what about reality TV? It's an ADD victim's wet dream.
  • GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Because nothing screams "you're focused!" like browsing the web with 20 tabs in Firefox and the TV going off in the background.
  • adz999, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2DIGG has noticeably lowered my attention span, I am living proof i rarely read articles now! - I read the heading and a couple of comments and move on.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I opened the artical, read one line, realized I left auto run on in world of warcraft, decided the artical dident interest me anymore, closed it and opened wow.

    A.D.D at its best.
  • Feebriel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm with you on that. I know a few people who say they have A.D.D., and some that actually have it. The ones that only say hey have it make jokes about it All the time, whereas the ones that do have it struggle to stay on task at school, or stay on topic in a conversation.

    I never liked to joke about these sorts of things, it seems like making fun of someone who has some crazy disease, or walking up to someone and saying, "You have no arms, hehe!" Sometimes A.D.D. can be just as debilitating, right?

    I feel like I'm about to get yelled at, seeing as half the posts here was some sort of attempt to make a joke.
  • PaulLev, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Try this for a compromise ... http://www.sfreviews.net/save_socrates.html
  • fastfood15, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1he's not talking about the internet or digg, as we are lead to believe. The only connection he has to the net is bittorrent. Other than that he is merely opining about the new age of movies and tv shows.


    oh and author:

    remember the tivo 'betch.
  • uberdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what a load of *****
  • hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1articles pretty weak
    having said that i have increaced my attention to complete old Dr Who adventures recently
    http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ange728
  • fershizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2couldn't focus enough to read it...and i'm not joking....i really just don't care
  • Photoblog, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I agree, I can spend 10 hours a day reading now, thanks to the interweb
  • R3doubt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1HARRY: The same. We had this incredibly romantic time. Boy, I thought we'd be together forever. (SIGHS) Then about a week later, right out of the blue, she sends me a John Deere letter.
    LLOYD: That's cold, Har. Give you any reason?
    HARRY: I called her up and she gave me some crap about me not listening to her enough or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention.
  • tinkafoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2too long, didn't read

    .. didn't even read the other comments that said "too long, didn't read"
  • surfmadpig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1oh, that's what i do to prison break. lost is ok, i want all there is. i should try watching in slow motion to believe i have more of it. O_o
  • h0dg3s, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1blog spam
  • PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, well whatever. Hurry up and get to the conclusion.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2it does make it easier to be informed about recent history and avoid propaganda channels that only tell you "forget about everything, now listen to this new important piece".
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2well, it does make it easier to be informed about recent history and don't listen to propaganda channels that only tell you "forget about everything, now listen to this new important piece".
  • ThirdPrize, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I suspect the author is talking about US TV which is just dumbed down nonsence, used to fill in the gap between the adverts. Certainly here in the UK we don't have this problem (well, we do on ITV but i never watch it). Maybe its just that someone started making TV for people with a brain and they found people watched it. JMO.
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