Monday, August 10, 2009
Television Rots Your...Attention Span?
In chapter 4 of Niel Postman's Amusing Ourselves to death Postman talks about the Lincoln-Douglas debates which lasted for several hours. In it he also states that the attention span of the audience who attended the debates would have been "extraordinary by current standards" (45). I found this to be surprisingly true, for example I saw an interview with several full-time bloggers the other day on youtube, and one of the bloggers stated that her attention span had been reduced to the point where she had trouble reading a fully written out email, let alone a seven hour long oral debate. What I find even more astonishing is the fact that the audiences of the debates were able to comprehend what was being said throughout those seven hours. With this in mind, has the television and internet really reduced our attention spans that dramatically?
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I think that TV and the internet DO ruin our attention span because usually it is usually useless things that we do/ make on the computers. The shows on TV are no longer beneficial to our minds, all they show on TV is how normal it is to be 16 and pregnant, or murdering a family of 5. The list goes on. But overall, it is very true that TV and the internet ruin our minds because they do not help us conprehend anything anymore... it just entertains our mind.
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely think the effect of the television and the internet has dramatically reduced our attention spans. I remember reading that particular part about the Lincoln-Douglas debates actually. When I read the part about Lincoln suggesting the audience go home, have dinner, and then come back to listen to a couple more hours of speech, I was surprised that the audience actually agreed to come back. Truthfully if I was in that situation, I wouldn't be able to stomach it. I'd probably end up begging my mother to let me stay home for the second half, or convince whoever I was with that I've suddenly come down with a nasty cold, and that's before I'd even get a chance to settle and let my lethargy catch up to me after having dinner. Moreover, after reading that the audience was able to easily comprehend Lincoln's and Douglas' speeches, I felt like I'd been reduced to a tiny speck. Not only would I be completely lost if someone was speaking to me like that, but I had to read the bit of their speeches that Postman included a few times and extremely slowly until I could finally understand what they were saying. It's pretty difficult to withstand hours of talk after being used to fast-paced concepts of television though, but I'll admit, the length of my attention span is also partially my fault for watching so many hours of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree also. The television trains our minds to think of time as thirty minute intervals or sixty minute intervals, which is how long most shows are. Even full-length movies are cut to fit into a two hour interval etc. Hasn't anybody noticed that many teenagers, when telling a long story to a friend, forget what their point is or even what they're talking about? I know this has happened to me. So, yeah television does reduce our attention span.
ReplyDeleteKristine, I love everything you said above because it is exactly what I started thinking when I read the original posting by Brandon. I especially connected to when you mentioned movies and their two hour duration. I automatically thought to myself how while watching movies at the theatre, I pull out my phone after the first hour and start to text. We are so used to the thirty and sixty minute television shows that anything longer can lose ones' attention quickly.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Brandons question, yes I do think that television and the Internet has reduced our attention spans because like Krisa said, it is filled with useless things that we tend to not pay attention to everything we see and read.
Yep yep It's definitely true, our attention span has definitely been reduced...by a lot! My grandma told me that before, there were movies where they were so long that there had to be an intermission! I can't believe that people would actually go back. I agree with Kristine as well. Television has trained us to think in 30 min or 60 min intervals that a 3 hour movie seems ridiculous to us now. Personally, I do not have the patience to read anything in the newspaper except for the comic section. I envy the people from the era of Lincoln and Douglas; I wish i had even half the attention and comprehension ability they had.
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