Comments on: I Love You Though You Hurt Me So

By: Hanna

Hanna — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:16:38 +0000

Craig – I agree completely! Amusing Ourselves to Death has been at the top of my mind through this whole book. This book itself is a lesson in re-establishing an attention span.

By: Maria Bustillos

Maria Bustillos — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:32:58 +0000

I also loved your Tainted Love ref (even though it is my least favorite Soft Cell song ha ha.)

By: Maria Bustillos

Maria Bustillos — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:30:28 +0000

Totally love ‘dread and savoring,’ which I read this way:

1. Candy! yum
2. Oh no oh my god they are taking it away (dread)
3. Maybe it is coming back, I think it is coming back (during commercial)
4. It is for sure coming back; it did last time (savoring)
5. It’s back!

I came late to this post but I just loved it, and the comments. Thank you.

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:52:53 +0000

This entire section in IJ sparked a memory of Neil Postman’s book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which he posits and writes about the decline in attention span (using a comparison of those who sat through long debates such as the Lincoln-Douglass debates vs. those of the majority today who can’t sit through a 30 min to 1 hr. program without needing a break.

By: harmon

harmon — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:03:36 +0000

I’m way behind, having come in the middle of the infinite summer, if there is such a place.

Been doing the background reading to help me get centered on the read. One of the questions I keep hearing is What Book Is This Book Most Like? Somehow, your post “I Love You Though You Hurt Me So” made it click: Catch-22

By: stephanie

stephanie — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:32:27 +0000

haha, agreed!

By: dioramaorama

dioramaorama — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:04:46 +0000

I’ve read about this study before and my first thought was that these people must have never sat down to watch the entire fifth season of Six Feet Under in one day.

By: Susan Marleau

Susan Marleau — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:36:59 +0000

I actually think it has something to do with the commercial breaks giving viewers an opportunity to get up and go do something else and not miss any of the show. I actually enjoy viewing entire seasons of shows on DVD without commercials, but that’s because I can pause them if necessary to take a break. If people think that they are going to have to sit to watch an entire TV program without being able to, say, get up to use the restroom and not miss something, they probably would like it less than a program with commercials.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:10:05 +0000

It’s funny to me that since I don’t have a TV, I rent whole box sets when the program has run it’s course (the wire, arrested development) or has at least run a few seasons (Mad Men) and watch them (sans commercials) on my laptop. The strange realization I just had is that I will watch marathon sessions of the DVD’s and end up having to tear myself away. I think I’m the medical attaché (at least I haven’t soiled myself and I still remember to eat, phew.)

By: naptimewriting

naptimewriting — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:38:19 +0000

As a reformed ad/branding dude myself, I love Wallace’s discussions of advertising and consumerism. The videophone and the LipoVac sections are particularly titillating. If you haven’t, read his short story Mr. Squishy, which is collected in Oblivion and was originally in a McSweeney’s issue. Hilarious and scary and touching and all that you’d expect from Wallace.
And for what it’s worth, with no research whatsoever to back it up, I think people like breaks in evening television because they can’t sit still for long periods, knowing there is laundry to be done and snacks to be prepared and conversations to attempt and ablutions to be performed and tidying to do and next-day preparations to complete. I think we like our entertainment in bites because it’s how we fit it into our lives.