The Internet is full of challenges. YouTube has a multitude of annoying 10 hour-long videos of irritating noises and sounds alone. But, this CollegeHumor video might just top them all. It challenges its viewers to finish a three-minute video, and to make it worse, the video is boring.
It’s a look into the human psyche and the impact that the Internet has had on the way our attention spans work. This video argues that the Internet has made the human mind weak and saturated with entertainment. We surf the Internet for hours on end to put an end to the tedious boredom of everyday life. A decade of a world taken over by the Internet has brought about a generation of weak-willed people who can’t even find the time to finish reading an article.
We Dare You
We dare you to finish this article. We know most of you probably won’t. Slate performed a study of how many people actually read their articles, and the results weren’t particularly promising: About 5 percent of people who landed on Slate pages were engaged with the page in some way, but never scrolled down the page. Typically, this means that they didn’t see anything at all about the article, and opted to visit another web page.
Most visitors scroll to at least the 50 percent mark, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve read the article. People could just be skimming and then sharing the information online via Facebook or Twitter. Then, other people can share the article without reading it, too, and it will create a chain reaction of misinformed individuals who can’t pay attention long enough to understand the premise of the article.
Finally, the only way to get most people to scroll through the entire article is to embed pictures or videos into it, which causes readers to scroll through the entire article, then go elsewhere or share/comment on it. These trends use the assumption that the web article is roughly 2000 pixels long (the length of a typical web article, roughly two pages of text or 1,000 words single-spaced).
Still With Us?
Good. You’re among the minority of readers. Most of you wouldn’t have read this far. It’s almost as if the seemingly limitless number of screens and tabs that can be open at one time make us feel like we never need to be bored. If something isn’t working for you, all you need to do is search for something else to appease your hunger for content.
The unfortunate side effect of this is that it wastes a lot of time, especially from a business standpoint. Unless you are entirely engulfed in your work, you will be browsing the Internet. Take advantage of productivity-increasing tips from Bevlin today by calling 781-679-0172. And remember the obnoxious man-in-the-suit’s words; “If you watch this entire video, if you make the choice to sit and be bored for these 180 seconds, you will have finally taken the first step in regaining control over the one truly renewable resource in life: your time.”
Thank you for being one of the few readers to finish this article. Now, don’t waste any more time. Put your time to good use and leave a comment expressing your thoughts.
