Attention spans

This is a fascinating quote from the history:

On August 21 of 1858, in the midwestern town of Ottawa, twelve thousand people waited in the sweltering Illinois heat to hear two Senatorial candidates debate each other. They stood on their feet for three hours and paid close attention as Abraham Lincoln debated Stephen Douglas about the sovereignty of political entities at different levels and their right to self-governance.

The scene was not an anomaly; the same scene repeated itself all across Illinois as the two debated over the ensuing months. Newspapers reported 16-18,000 people in Galesburg, 15,000 in Freeport, 12,000 in Quincy, and 5-10,000 in Alton

But around 2014-2016, the old internet died amidst the explosion of social media. As a result, on today’s internet it’s easy to find the clickbait content and difficult to find the thoughtful articles. When you google a term, you will never find a long, contemplative article on the topic; you’ll find watered-down SEO-optimized sites that don’t offer anything worth reading. You’ve got to know in advance where to find the good writing – it’s spread across a thin web of hard-to-find blogs and little-known authors. Each is a hidden gem, waiting for you to unearth it.

Source: About – Read Something Interesting

I concur completely with this.