Partial Attention Deficit Disorder
April Thayer
What was the article I read that said 18-24 year olds consume 20 hours of media inside of seven hours? (The operative word being “consume,” of course.) Could we change that to “witness” or “are washed over by” or “are in the same room with enough devices all running at once to eat the power required to run a Smart Car?” What are we talking about here?
Just because someone can talk on their cell phone and IM with their cousins in DC and have the television going at the same time doesn’t mean they’re consuming media. Just watching my son, I know that one of the three devices would have to stop working to get his attention. Absent a power failure, he’s in another world.
I don’t know what we should call that – partial attention deficit disorder comes to mind - but if that’s going to be the definition of media consumption, a lot of advertisers are going to get mighty short-changed and plenty pissed off!
It comes back to the concept of impressions and the value of an impression has to be protected under some rule, doesn’t it?
All the new media types still have to deliver an impression. All the traditional media types have to deliver an impression. The creative has to be good enough to be engaging. The advertiser has to get his or her money’s worth. And then all will be right with the media world. Provided we don’t have a power failure.