One reason the days seem to fly by when we grow older is because senior days are much shorter than junior days. We spend a lot more hours wandering off somewhere in Dreamland. The television industry should realize this. The average age of its audience is increasing and now is the time for major programming changes to accommodate the shrinking attention span of this large segment of the viewing population.
No matter how loud, terrifying, naughty or even nauseating they make their final scenes, they’re wasted on millions of us older viewers. By 10 p.m. our eyelids have begun to quiver and will soon shut.
So far this year I’ve seen only the first halves of most TV specials. Instead of cramming more commercials into Part II, wrongly assuming they have a captured audience, TV producers should shorten the ads and speed up the story action or we old fogies will sleep through the ads and the finale.
Television execs must now adapt to accommodate our abbreviated attention spans. If our undivided attention for extended periods is necessary to sell their products or opinions, they will have to make the necessary adjustments.
Otherwise, a large portion of their “captured audiences” will be snoring through their “thrilling dramatic moments” and “”persuasive ads”. This is a fact of life, TV moguls. If you don’t recognize and believe this, as you tell us so very often, just “Ask your doctor.”
Imagine That 