Grover, Elmo and Big Bird are being downsized--well at least as much as a character named Big Bird could be downsized. After 45 years of offering hour-long programming for children, Sesame Street will begin its 46th season by offering a half-hour version in addition to the hour-long show it has always created. The need for the half hour version is in response to an increase in the number of children accessing the show on-line and on mobile devices. The PBS Kids video app has seen a significant increase in use and a shorter version of the children's classic will be designed to expand the program's digital reach.
This move has prompted a tremendous amount of reaction as discussions have focussed on children's attention span as compared to years ago. Some analysts are saying the 30 minute version is more palatable to preschoolers now since they don't have the same attention span preschoolers did years ago.
As adults we seem to be in the same boat. According to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, in the year 2000 the average adult attention span was 12 seconds. Sadly, that has been reduced to a mere 8 seconds according to research done in 2013. By point of comparison, a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. I should be alarmed by this I suppose, but the bigger question for me would be to ask what sort of testing model had been set up for those goldfish. What could possibly make up the list of observable data for that one?
Their point is we need to pay attention to the fact that we are no longer paying attention. Certainly there are those amongst us who have diagnosed attention-deficit conditions requiring treatment, medication or modifications. But the concern lies in the fact that in general we are all demonstrating lack of attention. Smartphones are checked continuously, and 86% of people admit to "needing" to have access to multiple screens simultaneously. Meanwhile a large American company has had to ban all tech devices at manager meetings to try and increase attention to the presentations being made. We are so busy keeping up with so much we are paying attention to so very little.
Scientist and psychologist Herbert Simon predicted in 1977 that information would consume the attention of its recipients. He said, "A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." We are impoverished indeed. We see less, hear less and comprehend less. In the inundation of images that flash past us we end up perceiving few. In the noise of so many voices competing for our attention we are attentive to little. We are bombarded by volumes of information but take little time to sort through or discern very much of it. In an attempt to keep up with our virtual universes we aren't engaged in what is going on in our own world. We are more at home in the chaos of distraction than in the serenity of attention.
Is this because we are no longer capable of paying attention? Hardly. Our brains aren't wired differently but we certainly have made choices that cause us to intake and process information very differently. We have conditioned ourselves to constantly be aware of information coming at us from all sources. But the incessant updates, incoming messages, beeps and bings have conditioned us to have splintered focus. We have something going on in front of us but all the while we have an ear, eye and part of our attention elsewhereon alertwaitingwatching. The price we have paid is our attention. Nothing gets our all because everything is getting a fragment.
Apparently those goldfish will recognize the face of those who feed it. That might be enough for the fish. But a glimpse of a few seconds is not where we will find fulfillment in our actions and interactions. We can do better. We need to do better. Our work depends on it, our sleep requires it and most importantly our relationships demand it. Maybe we should think of it in a bit different way and remind ourselves it is not about paying attention but truly investing our attention in things that matter most. That's my outlook.
