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Originally Posted by dki
I hoped so, but now I wonder. There's just so much available at all times that I get bogged down just trying to make a choice. Back in the day there were other forms of entertainment as movies, theater, pub, clubs, libraries, meeting friend for lunch or dinner, or going shopping (ach, the bookstores of old), but they all required you to do more that just pick up your laptop, TV remote or Xbox. Now it's all at your fingertips, and I think that part of my problem with not being able to focus reading is due to that. My grandparents and parents did not have that problem, they all read well into ripe old age. I spend more time looking for the books than reading them, simply because I can do it from my home. I don't have to go anywhere, and I like browsing with a cup of coffee in my den, so there. Reading became secondary. My TBR list reached epic proportions. I hate starting on any series, because they just rum loo long, and I cannot keep interest in them throughout all 59 (or so) parts. Back in a day I loved series, the longer the better.
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Anecdotal evidence isn't worth much. Your grandparents may be heavy readers, but that doesn't mean that everyone's grandparents are heavy readers. You have to look at a wide sample, and that's what this article doesn't do. The article gives the impression that everyone used to read Proust, and then stopped because of the internet. The internet has only been widely available to the public for about 20 years, have people really become less able to read over those 20 years? My reading has increased considerably since I got an e-reader. Of course, that's anectodal as well, it would be a mistake to attempt to apply that to everyone.
There is a tendency to assume that in the past, because modern entertainments weren't available, people used to just read and read and read and read. But there was plenty of things to do besides reading. People used to be much more inclined to participate in sports rather than watching them. And when they did watch, they watched them in person instead of on their couches. Even in books, the "bookworm" character who spends all of his time reading has been looked at with derision. Take Don Quixote for example, gone mad with stories of knights in shining armor.
You say you have difficulty with reading series, but if that was the result of the internet and other entertainment media, we would see series diminishing. Instead, series are very popular. Some people complain about how popular series are, about people being less willing to read a stand-alone book. Look at the Game of Thrones series. The books are doorstoppers, but they are quite popular. If the internet was keeping people from reading longer books, why is this series so popular?
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So the bottom line is that I have a feeling that all these "sound bites" all these short articles, all that "just to the point" information I seek is changing the way I look at the novels. The whole point of a novel is that it is not "just to the point". And I am not sure I can tolerate this, never mind enjoy it for hours on end as I used too. Also, I find that I am less likely to go to the movies, or even watch a movie on TV. I simply cannot stay interested in a movie for 2 hours. Even with the pop-corn and all. Now it's TV series. I hope I can retain that 45 minute attention span I still kind of have.
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Do people really scan articles online more than they do articles in the newspaper? There are also plenty of movies that are more than two hours long. The Lord of the Rings movies are over three hours each, the latest Hobbit movie was 2 hours 41 minutes. If people in general are becoming unable to watch movies that last more than two hours, the movie studios haven't gotten the word.
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That I have to disagree with. This is anecdotal evidence. I have a pretty high level of aggression (just ask my co-workers or DH) and I would never play a shooter. Just bores me to tears. I want to take a nap in the middle of a fight. To be honest, I rarely play any other kind of a games anymore - see short attention span explanation above, but I used to. Shooters - never. There's just nothing like a real-life fight, that's all. No virtual bloodbath can compete. So I think that people with a high level of aggression vent in real life. But YMMV.
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No one is saying that all people who have high levels of aggression play violent video games. Thus, just because you don't doesn't demonstrate anything.