Has society lost it's attention span?: LiveSimplicity discussion forum

Have your say and share your ideas. Join us on the road to simplicity.

Have we gotten so used to 'fast food' style of information delivery that we no longer have the attention span to, for example, read and finish an entire novel? Are we seeing the effects of the MTV generation where snippets of information are more than enough?

View A

We are already overloaded with information. That's why we are only capable of absorbing small amounts of information at a time. It's not about human nature, it's about corporations competing for our attention on a daily basis.

View B

It's up to the individual to maintain an realistic view of information exchange. Patience is a virtue, after all. We need to learn to pay more attention to the details in order to enjoy more meaningful experiences.

5 comment(s) so far

JBonnin thinks: It is also about education at home. We are getting to that very serious moment in which too many parents are unable to set the example of enjoying reading.

Simpler thinks: It's a good point that our environment is infecting us with "Attention Deficit Syndrome" to some extent. Of course it's up to the individual to manage it, it's just that this is very hard considering the bombardment of information we're subject to.

Since simplicity is defined by our knowledge level about a subject (the more knowledge you have the more simple something often seems), the loss of attention span will lead to more things that we consider complex. I think, this could reinforce our demand for simplicity in our lives, while ironically it's our own attention deficit that is creating our feeling of complexity in the first place

ztyler thinks: In this day and age where information overload is the norm rather than the exception, it's important for the individual to counteract this by taking time to slow things down and 'smell the roses'.

chrisek thinks: It's interesting that this idea of information overload and the need for companies to capture people's interest has now been labeled the "attention economy". According to this Business 2.0 article, too many choices has caused us to 'zone out' and ignore most of the information presented to us. It appears that the next round of start-up companies will be focused on creating ways for us to get the information that we need, providing a more personalized experience by only presenting us information that we are truly interested in.