I worry
about attention spans. I have noticed over recent years that it has become more
difficult for me to concentrate on a single task. The expectation of
multi-tasking constantly interferes, and I find myself, especially when
watching TV, reaching to the web browser to do something else simultaneously.
This doesn’t surprise me as I’ve often used TV as background noise, but there
are times when I want to pay
attention to the TV, but a few minutes lull in the show finds me reaching for
something else to occupy my attention.
I’ve
witnessed similar behavior in students who constantly need to be reminded ad nauseum
regarding due dates, procedures, and announcements. It becomes tiresome and
tedious.
I’m also
concerned when it comes to readers. How will leisure reading further evolve
because of shortened attention spans. Will we see the rise of chapters that are
no more than a page long? Will full-length novels disappear in favor of
novellas? Novelettes? Short stories? Flash fiction is becoming increasingly
popular on the web. Will it permeate into collected fiction as well? Instead of
a long, complicated narrative, will it simply be a loose collection of flash
fiction vignettes?
I wish I
had answers. I wish I could get rid of the foreboding regarding this subject.