I’m sure this topic has been brushed upon many times; however, it still baffles me how much shorter our attention spans are now compared to 100-200 years ago. As I read Amusing Ourselves to Death, I am constantly hit with the fact that people in the 1800s could spend hours standing just listening to people talk, and as interesting as it is to watch people debate, I don’t think I could handle listening to it for longer than 2-3 hours (unless it’s a topic I’m incredibly passionate about, that might keep my attention). Honestly though, I can pick up a book and five minutes later I’ll be thinking about this news article I read the other day instead of the book that is literally in my hands.
It’s easy to see that the reason for our short attention spans is the Internet, simply due to the fact that we can switch from this topic to that topic and from doing this to doing that in just a few seconds, but it still somehow surprises me to realize that people weren’t always this easily distracted. Sure, I also realize that people at that time didn’t have a ton of resources to learn or gather new information, so they would take what they could get. With us, we’re constantly supplied with easy access to information that allows us to learn something new quickly and as often as we’d like, meaning that we probably simply got used to this constant feeling of having all the knowledge we could ever need at our fingertips, but it honestly just gets to me to think that these people could honestly sit there for hours on hours without getting distracted, listening to people debate about the same topic.
Do you think, if it were a topic you like, that you could sit through a debate for hours on hours with minimal distractions or without your thought process as you follow such rigorous debate trailing off?
-Samira Elasmar
If I was interested in the topic then I probably would sit for hours on end to learn. A topic that I would probably sit through is about video games or characters fighting to see who is better. These conversations can spark your brain to bring up the best defense and maybe you can join in this long debate.
ReplyDelete-Jared Pacion
ReplyDeleteSee, I think I'm on the abnormal end of the spectrum. I enjoy lectures, even the ones that seem to have no end. I find that I don't get bored easily when hearing someone talk for hours on end, even if it's something that I don't particularly find the most interesting. However, that being said, in order for me to stay mentally present and conscious, the speaker must be well-practiced and eloquent. When a speaker makes their message interesting and engaging, I don't think many people have to be particularly interested in that subject to find themselves engaged in the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI’ll give you that. Usually when the speaker is well spoken and passionate about their topic, I can pay attention for awhile (which I realized after being in Mrs. Garvin’s class), but if they’re not, I get distracted like every two minutes.
ReplyDelete