I read much of my news off the internet. I also read a considerable amount from the newspaper, and what I find in my daily meanderings from article to article is the ways I jump over the news, the ways the news scatters my attention. It does this with methods that destroy the information it tries to deliver and, by extension, the advertisers that try to support it.
Look at me!
No, look at me!
Here, here, over here! Look at me!
Headlines scream for my attention from one corner of the page to the next. I see one, read a bit, then move on to the next, filling my conscious with the gist of news instead of its completeness.
Man Shot Dead by Celebrity
10 Things You Need To Know Before You Die
Scientists Know When The Next Big Earthquake Will Come. Do You?
I may read three paragraphs of the article before I move on to the next headline. I may not even read the piece at all; instead, choosing to read only the headline. To make matters worse, the news from the internet is more interactive. It contains hyperlinks that may siphon my attention away far enough to a point where I’ve lost the original article.
Headlines, synopses, teasers: these are timeless instruments the media uses to capture the individual’s perusal. In an era where there are thousands of news channels and millions of websites, these instruments are invaluable. If a particular news outlet garners enough attention then it receives considerable ad revenue.
Yet for all its skill and practice at garnering the attention of others, is the media destroying itself through these look-at-me techniques? It may not have appeared so eighty years ago, but what about today, in a world of over abundant news outlets? The art of holding attention may be doing the opposite of what it’s meant to do.
Media outlets may be playing an involuntary role at chiseling away the individual’s attention span, but in doing so they create a consumer that has no need for an entire page of news. The consumer deduces meaning from the headline, synopsis, or teaser instead; never forming an accurate picture of what the reporter is trying to say; or worse, ignoring the very images and hyperlinks that support the news outlet itself: the advertisers.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2010 for Just Moving Along .com
