Not too long ago we posted a post that posed the thought that everything has turned large.  (See “Large is the New Small,” February 3, 2014).

We have rethought that thought and now think that we think there is one thing not so large anymore.  America’s attention span.

In the course of her everyday business, She of We often sends out forms to be filled out.  But she always makes sure there are detailed instructions so one doesn’t get lost along the way.

Invariably, the first 2 or 3 of those are followed to the letter and then after that the recipient fills in whatever, wherever, and for who knows whyever as he or she wants.

In the course of his everyday business, He of We often presents training sessions on new or changed company policies.

Just last week he presented such one and began as he always does with “This information comes from the new policy on blah-blah-blah.  You will find a copy in your packet.”

Within the first five minutes, one of the attendees asked “is this stuff some new policy or something?”  Within the next five someone else asked if she could have a copy of the policy.

Have you noticed how many commercial breaks on TV are no longer the standard two minute breaks?

Now they stretch over as much as six minutes and even in the shorter ones, there will always be at least one commercial repeated within that break.

What has happened that all of a sudden people aren’t paying attention anymore?

We’ve come to the conclusion that they are still paying attention.  But only to the first 140 characters.

Somewhere we’ve also created a new vocabulary for old symbols.

Years ago (like maybe two), when calling a phone with an auto-attendant, prompts would include things like, “Please enter your account number followed by the pound sign.”

Today, Mr. Attendant invites you to press the “Hash Key” when finished with your entry.

We’re fine with micro-blogging.  It’s entertaining, brings people together who wouldn’t otherwise, and fills up lots of time that would otherwise be used doing work.

We just don’t want people to stop at 140 characters if the information runs to a few hundred words.

So that’s our thoughts for today.  Some of the paragraphs are more than 140 characters.  Feel free to split them if you think you might be mi

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?