> We are impatient and have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. To be properly absorbed, information needs to be organized in a way that accommodates that.
Common myth, but actually not true. Joe Rogan has 3 hour long talks with people and is one of the most popular media figures.
The real truth is, most information sucks (it's both useless and boring), so people tune out. Improve information, get more attention.
Joe Rogan is very light listening though. I doubt people actually sit in their armchair listening intently for 3 hours without doing anything else. People also love to binge watch TV - does that mean there’s no attention span issues?
Not sure about that... I’m just listening the Weinstein episodes (first Bret, not Eric). they’re talking about very controversial topics and going very deep - mainstream media would dismiss most of those as just “conspiracy theories” without even considering them rationally on their merits. I might be biased though, maybe those epispdes aren’t as popular as some other guests.
I think what people miss most in the “mainstream” narrative is honesty & truth.
I am watching and listening intently the ones that I am interested in. Episodes with Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey jr. or Russel Brand, I watched in full in one sitting. I can also watch bunch of episodes cooking, checking other stuff.
I'm not so sure... just, like, maybe put one single thought into organizing it?
I still hold PHP documentation as a golden standard even though I haven't used the language in like 10 years. Everything is spelled out, and what's still unclear, there's usually a comment or two at the bottom of the page asking to clarify just that.
Contrast that with Python, my current main language... not only is it badly organized as a whole (where do I find documentation for `str`? Surely there's a page... no! it's all bundled up together in "Built-in types!"), the individual pages _also_ have no sensible structure and not even a good TOC! Python's jumping between versions and deliberate refusal to back-port features doesn't help either, but that's a different topic...
> I'm not so sure... just, like, maybe put one single thought into organizing it?
Most documentation definitely needs more attention towards organization.
But in my experience, organization is extremely difficult, especially because a documentation author may think of the system very differently than a new user might
And then proceed to a 37 pages long doc, where he explains the history of drivers since 1745, and repeats and repeats
Advertizement above the NEXT button which keeps shifting while the page loads
Little did you know that the driver is actually
You have reached your free limit of 1 article per month, SUBSCRIBE HERE, but the button shifts again and now you have porn and "you have a virus" popping out everywhere
And you want to leave but the back button id hijacked and you understand why the etymology of vi is an Aztec phrase for "how do I get out of this shit"
Agreed. I got excited about podcasts really early on because there are so many interesting deep dives on so many topics. There are exceptions but most traditional radio shows cover topics briefly, terribly, or both. The fact that podcasts have exploded in popularity is strong evidence that many people enjoy more detailed discussions on many subjects, they just didn't much access to them in traditional media.
And don’t forget, streaming service Quibi, with its focus on ten minute shows, failed to pull viewers away from the series and movies on HBO and Netflix that require much bigger time and attention investments.
Common myth, but actually not true. Joe Rogan has 3 hour long talks with people and is one of the most popular media figures.
The real truth is, most information sucks (it's both useless and boring), so people tune out. Improve information, get more attention.