TV
It is generally accepted that Americans have a short attention span. I believe this to be true, and I think I am an example. I have sat in numerous academic roundtables, where non-Americans take 10 minutes to make a point that Americans would make in 2. Just give me the gist, and let's move on; a roundtable is not a place for definitive proofs, but for raising ideas. While in Germany, I began reading a news magazine called Focus , and I remarked to a colleague that the articles in it were very long compared to its American counterparts such as Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report . She said she was surprised, because the articles in Focus were shorter than those in other German magazines. I like things to make a point, but I can't say that having a short attention span is necessarily good. I admit that I would benefit from having a little more patience to read longer articles. There is definitely a tradeoff between getting down to busines...