Microsoft did a survey of media consumption and concluded the average attention span has fallen to eight seconds, which is down from twelve in the year 2000. Attention span is defined as the amount of concentrated attention we can spend on a task without becoming distracted. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, commented that "the true scarce commodity of the near future will be human attention."
We carry the world around in the palm of our hand, thanks to companies like Microsoft and their distracting products. The unfiltered trash and relevant information flows in 24/7. On Saturday, as I was puttering around the house, I caught myself constantly "checking" the news headlines on my iphone. Why? The blizzard just kept on doing what blizzards do. Snow.
Anyway, thank goodness for old-fashioned things like operas, gardening, reading and classic movies that still challenge our dwindling attention spans. Television programs are all hyper-paced and the camera never holds a scene for long, even on programs like Masterpiece Theater.
The original movie "Far From the Madding Crowd" starring Julie Christie came out in 1967 and is 168 minutes long. It's one of my favorites and John gave me the new Blu-Ray version for Christmas which was very nice.
The "Madding Crowd" movie from last year starring Carey Mulligan was OK, but they changed and condensed the story. The original movie follows the Thomas Hardy novel almost exactly. It unfolds slowly at a 19th century rural pace, with long stretches of dialog and sweeping scenes of the English countryside. It would bore teenagers to tears now, but we thought it was completely thrilling at the time.
Now, as for gardening and dwindling attention spans-- stick a bulb in the ground, wait eight seconds and see what happens. Ha.
But how about this? I was walking around the block yesterday in the weak sunshine and saw the first crocus blooming. Tiny "useless" bulbs that someone thought to plant many long months ago, just to remind us that Spring is coming.
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