Short Attention Spans (was Re: Pentax Photo Gallery Statistics)

[William Robb]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Waller"
Subject: Re: Short Attention Spans (was Re: Pentax Photo Gallery Statistics)


>A few years ago I attended a seminar on marketing & it was the opinion of
> the speaker that the computer had changed our perception of timing ... the
> click of the mouse has dictated the speed of the response we seek. I believe
> he talked of response times aroud 5-7 seconds as being what his surveys had
> indicated as being acceptable, especially with the younger computer users.

Years and years ago, when the computer was still a small house sized contraption, I took a 
seminar on doing slide show type presentatons. Even back then, we were told that keeping a slide 
on the screen for more than 5 seconds was a good way to lose an audience.
The peril of this is that you can't really learn anything in such short time periods, either 
because you can't process information fast enough, or because you simply can't get enough 
pertinent information into your head in a few seconds, and quite often, important decisions are 
made based on no knowledge at all.
Think sound bites and election campaigns, and be afraid.

William Robb