Notes on attention

It's generally assumed that we have shorter attention spans these days. The Internet and/or cellphones are often blamed. A generation ago, we blamed television and it's quick cuts and sensationalist themes. (I haven't timed things recently, but the old guidelines used to call for some video change every 10 seconds or less.)
Researchers have produced some interesting, but inconclusive data. This past Sunday's New York Times book review included reviews of recent titles that give us new literature on brain science. We know that something new is going on, but the specifics of each situation often overwhelm any general theories.
For the record, I started writing this at 11 this morning. I looked up the NYT link, read a couple of articles while doing so, met with three people from my WISE course for an hour and change, wrote a half sentence, went about the rest of the day, tried writing while watching tv, and, finally, after reading the first page of a Ken Auletta piece in The New Yorker, turned off the tv sound during some ads, and finished this post.
I could blame the Internet or any of the gadgets that control the pipes, but I read and wrote like this 50 years ago. Some of us showed up pre-wired, waiting for this stuff and these times.