Pay Attention, SpongeBob!

Short Attention Span Theater has a new addition - SpongeBob Square Pants! Poor SpongeBob can't seem to catch a break. After accusations, of all sorts, have been thrown at the popular cartoon a new study in the journal "Pediatrics" suggests that the cartoon may impact the attention span of 4-year-old children:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44460161/ns/health-childrens_health/

As a person who watched MTV launch into the airwaves, I am reminded of similar studies that suggested the same thing regarding music videos and high school students in the 1980's. Studies will be conducted on attention span and other important areas as we continue to grow accustomed to technology and new sources of media. After reading this recent study, I am struck by several questions:

1. How many children, 4 and older, do any form of school work or draw pictures immediately after watching SpongeBob?
2. What do college students do before and after watching SpongeBob? Seriously.
3. Why SpongeBob?

On a serious side of this topic, as human beings - we are highly adaptable. As Nichols Carr illustrates in his book, "The Shallows," the research shows us that the elasticity of our brain's memory and ability to adapt is incredible. Furthermore, in Kevin Kelly's book, "What Technology Wants," and the research he cites tells us that this evolutionary process our brain is going through has historically shown that we continue to adapt to new media as well as technology.

So, here I am wondering that if way back in time there were a few of our ancestors gathered outside of a cave. One person remarks to the other (I will loosely translate here), "You know, these cave paintings in there are really impacting the attention of our clan! They hardly even listen to our storytelling anymore and go straight to the symbolism on the cave wall...In fact, I tried to tell a story to a few people after they studied your 'painting' and they didn't even understand what I was saying!"

Okay, so back to being serious here...the point is that we are constantly evolving as humans and as we are introduced to new media or technology - we adapt and we learn how to create balance. I think SpongeBob is a great escape and can be funny, sometimes. We need our own escape to create that balance I mention over and over again. Just don't do school work, anything serious, or complete drawing lessons directly after your escape. Especially if that escape is SpongeBob Squarepants.