We like to retort that our attention spans are shortening.
That our concentration has become no better than that of a gold fish.
We skim web pages instead of reading them.
We get news from headlines instead of reading for details.
And if a YouTube video doesn’t grab our attention quickly, we move on to the next one.
Then again, good web design assists users in skimming the parts not relevant to them.
Half the news we click on turns out to be clickbait.
And there are billions of videos online—many of them not very good, or not delivering what they promise.
We say that our attention spans are flat lining…
And then we binge watch an entire Netflix series in one weekend.
It’s not that we can’t concentrate.
It’s that we won’t.
It’s not that we can’t focus.
It’s that not everything is worth focusing on.
Is that an issue with attention span?
Or an adaptation to abundance and a defence against mediocrity?