[christripp Posts: 1,249 Status: Offline WWW]

ahhh, I get it Jody!:)

Adults are having that same issue, I see more adults then not (and the 50 to 60 year olds are no exception) who stop what ever they are doing to check a text message or look at their email.... it's insane!

also sorry I'm off topic, just had to agree:)

[mrh Posts: 4,651 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

I see more adults then not (and the 50 to 60 year olds are no exception) who stop what ever they are doing to check a text message or look at their email

Yup. It might be because our brains are getting rewired, but it might also be because this is how we converse these days, since conversation is no longer about being face to face. And humans have long stopped or paused what we are doing for conversation. In fact -- checking our phones is no sillier than dropping everything and running to answer a bell whenever it chances to ring, which we've been doing for the last hundred years, give or take.

This is on topic in the sense that it speaks to attention span and our increasing exposure to and use of graphics, both of which probably figure into the very-much-shorter PB trend.

Good discussion.

[Vijaya Posts: 8,509 Status: Offline LISTEN. Let all mortal flesh keep silence ... WWW]

What Jody said. OH, yes, they are very focused on the screen, just not what they should be paying attention to.
V.

[JodyJS Posts: 1,400 Status: Offline IT'S A FIELD TRIP, BUSY BUS! Preorder now! WWW]

 , V!

[Dionna]

This is on topic in the sense that it speaks to attention span and our increasing exposure to and use of graphics, both of which probably figure into the very-much-shorter PB trend.
Good discussion.

I agree, Marcia! When watching older movies I notice that the scenes were longer. The dialogue lengthier. And the overall time count heftier. (I found that to be true even when comparing movies from the 80s and 90s!) It's almost like conversation, moments, life is expected to come at us in quick, successive, visual soundbites in order for it to be interesting. I definitely think that's why books are shorter. They are competing with the fastness in which information is being doled out.

That said, books like A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and Beatrix Potter's originals are still being enjoyed by today's generation of kids. I think when parents are reading to their kids, especially at bedtime, they want to just slow down and enjoy the moment. So I don't think longer PB are ever going to go out of style. But is it possible for a newbie to sell one longer than 500 words? I don't think so.

[christripp Posts: 1,249 Status: Offline WWW]

>checking our phones is no sillier than dropping everything and running to answer a bell whenever it chances to ring, which we've been doing for the last hundred years, give or take.<

And suddenly I felt like a lab rat or Pavlov's dogs:)

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,372 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Yup. It might be because our brains are getting rewired, but it might also be because this is how we converse these days, since conversation is no longer about being face to face. And humans have long stopped or paused what we are doing for conversation. In fact -- checking our phones is no sillier than dropping everything and running to answer a bell whenever it chances to ring, which we've been doing for the last hundred years, give or take.

This is on topic in the sense that it speaks to attention span and our increasing exposure to and use of graphics, both of which probably figure into the very-much-shorter PB trend.

Good discussion.

This is insightful.

But visual literacy goes further. Yes, we are returning to hieroglyphics, but we never left them. They are brand insignias. (My son asked the difference between the Hyundai and Honda "h"s the other day). They are peace signs, yin yang, and anything else you might find on a graphic T. We identify ourselves with symbols. Look closely at your jewelry. Kids need to know what these things mean. They need to know the history and significance for some, so the words must come with those graphics.

Visual literacy is still literacy. You still work left to right, top to bottom if you work in English. You still have to draw meaning from the images on the page.

As far as movies go, I'm pretty sure The Lord of the Rings films did well. They are darned long, 178 minutes for the shortest. Snow White was 83 minutes. The difference is the target audience. Perhaps, as it should be with books, it depends on the needs of the piece.