Users have ADHD (Response #7)

Every type of media develops a type of eclectic audience with varying interests and to satisfy these audiences and to attract new members, it must continue to hold and captivate interest. For instance, a screenplay can be very good as a whole but the first ten pages is what the reader looks at. If nothing happens in the first ten pages, more than likely, nothing will happen to the screenplay. Next time you are watching a movie, time the first ten minutes of the film. This is when you will decide whether you’d like to continue watching the film or not. The first few minutes are critical in film just as in television. Think about the large sums of money spent on thirty-second commercial spots on television. A pilot of a new sitcom needs to be the best or one of the best episodes to grab a new audience, just as a thirty-second commercial need to be as interesting so the audience does not change the channel. The emergence in the popularity of the web as a new type of media must then accommodate the audience already used to the effortlessness of watching film and television to survive as a new medium. From what I’ve learned from the viewers, now referred to as “users,” Time or speed is critical and so is the content.

S. Krug writes, “ It’s the overriding principle—the ultimate tie breaker when deciding whether something works or doesn’t in a Web design. If you have room in your head for only one usability rule, make this the one. It means that as far as is humanly possible, when I look at a Web page it should be self-evident. Obvious. Self-explanatory” (11).

Krug supports the idea that users shouldn’t have to think when interacting online because the time a user spends thinking determines whether a web page is good or not. As a user, my goal online is for information and the fastest I get the information on a site, the more likely I will be returning to it. I am an avid television and movie-watcher and what makes me enjoy these mediums is the simplicity of the process of watching. For instance, to watch a television all I need to do is to power it on. I am then entertained and/or informed. As a web user, I need to experience the same effortlessness and a successful website, one that will not require me to think, makes this possible.

Public access show content with that of big-budget network-show content cannot be compared. They are in entirely different levels production-wise. On the other hand, a well designed website can be compared to a Fortune 500 company website just so long as they serve their main purpose. Users frequently filter and only click on links that made them go online in the first place. While web content can be overlooked at times, a busy site can make it hard to see the content or what you want to find. The time saved when a user is faced with a website does not require him to think is more favorable than a site that is very noisy.

I believe that the web is claiming a spot in the world of media and the way it will continue to succeed is the way it has established itself as an interactive form of communication. As technology progresses, it seems that audience attention span regress, and this regression can only be good for interactive communication because while television fights to grab attention, online users suffering from ADHD are surfing the web, clicking away, and taking advantage of all the information right at their fingertips.

Citations:

Krug, S. (2000). Don’t make me think. Indianapolis: New Riders, 1-39

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