dayliah,

You are absolutely correct. I, also, have said it in other threads here that it all started with SESAME STREET. The kids grew up watching that lightning-quick editing and splicing----and when it was shown that kids could learn their A,B,Cs using those techniques the ad agencies moved the concept along with the changing interests of the aging students. These dizzying cuts moved from Ses. St. to MTV and films then commercials until now the AARP magazine is glitzy in a quite unsettling similar manner. Even zoos and museums seem to be doing it---probably because they think we need it now if they are gonna get our attention. When I played a lot of schools in the 70s and 80s it became obvious thet the attention spans were decreasing at an alarming rate. Longer ballads were just about out of the question--even for older teens---although I tried to bring those songs in anyhow--usually losing the audience as a direct result.---I used to joke that five year olds and drunks had the same attention spans ;-) During the day I'd pick in schools and at night the gigs were in bars. It was fun---but things were changing. That's cool, I guess, but I will always prefer a less in-your-face style with lingering camera shots instead of machine-gun graphics.

Art Thieme