Has the world lost its ability to savor?

I read a blog post by one of our fellow students that feared it might bore the reader in 3 short paragraphs and it got me thinking. Our common perception of a social media outlet is Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. These are sites that allow their users to create and share with millions across the globe. I like to look at Twitter and shake my head.
Here we have a site that has spawned an army of users that broadcast

billions of short and sweet blurbs. If Facebook is a site where one samples bits of news like sticks of gum, thrown out before they lose their flavor, than Twitter is like the Everlasting Gobstopper of the internet. It is an infinite, amorphous monster that tears a sports team to pieces in one second while sharing its latest cornbread recipe the next.
If Gary Kamiya worries about the substance of internet content in his piece about the death of the newspaper , then perhaps solid and thorough investigative reporting’s most fervent enemy is the attention span of the modern news consumer. If people have begun to lose their ability to savor the news, like a succulent salmon filet (with a side of asparagus lightly fried in olive oil and a fine glass of pinot) then maybe the news as we once knew it is doomed to never return again. However, perhaps it’s because of the modern news media’s own lack of confidence in solid reporting.
Why blame the public for snacking on the sweet bits of Charlie Sheen’s latest failure at life when the latest news about the wicked storm that slammed Australia this morning was a deep-fried fritter about a baby and the latest political news involving the health care bill, written by a health care expert, contains no actual information about health care? Talk about empty calories.
Still, there are a few bright spot for any news consumer’s palate. The LA Times coverage of the clashes in Egypt shows that a hard-working news crew’s efforts at in-depth reporting have a purpose and that there is still an audience that is hanging on their every word, even when there are over 500 of them. Then again, at this moment there are only 3 comments so far on the article. Not the most heartning of responses for a city with over 4 million people.
Obesity is a so-called epidemic. Perhaps the news has to realize its own reader’s gluttony and change their appetites if they want to survive Kamiya’s dire prediction.

Image courtesy of Cocoia Blog