Money for Nothing and Shorter Content for Free?

I found Bill Wasik’s interview on “Big Think” to be very in-line with my views on modern media. I absolutely agree that one of the cons of modern media is the relentless distraction it encourages. I experience it myself every day. I feel like I’ve developed internet-onset ADD! As soon as I go to Twitter, I’m clicking on 10 different links. Those pages bring me to 10 more different links. Before I know it, I have 100 windows open at once, and I am giving less quality attention to each of them. Even as I sat down to write this blog entry, it took checking my facebook, email, twitter, facebook again and then email to finally settle down and concentrate on doing my homework.

I (we) have the most ambitious intentions to see/do all, but there is so much “dangling in front of us” as Wasik says, that it’s often quite difficult to retain everything. I have a hard enough time managing modern media now - I can’t imagine what it would have been like juggling these outlets when I was younger. Don’t get me wrong – I love the fact that there is an infinite, amount of data out there – and an abundance of ways to connect with like-minded communities, however, each day that a new site/application is released, my ability to concentrate only gets worse.

I really liked Bill’s example of the Kindle as a device conducive to making money, due to the experience it affords its users (so much so that I kind of want to get one now)! I think that choosing to consume content, on your own time, is a much more rich experience than doing so in a rushed environment, while at work, on a time crunch. There is less multi-tasking, and the consumption is done in an environment away from the chaos of blackberries and computers. People are much more willing to pay for this kind of leisurely experience, than accessing shorter content, which is actually more conducive to the busy schedule. There is such an over-abundance of shorter content that developing a model to monetize will be extremely difficult (unless the scenario described by Bill becomes a reality - companies start failing, shorter content becomes scarcer, and users are actually forced to open their wallets).