A study this week showed that a majority of listeners on Spotify skip songs after less than 5 seconds. This plays into an accepted modern narrative of doom which says that the interweb and all its related technological tentacles is eating our brains and spitting out click-junkies with the concentration of a gnat. But while I'd concede that our attention spans probably are shorter than those of our grandparents, I'm still dazzled by - and pretty grateful for - the democratic possibilities that 21st century technology offers when it comes to culture.
As a 40-something dinosaur, I have vivid memories of the pre-internet age of newspaper libraries, reading room stacks (sorry, the book you want is held at our books warehouse in Orpington so you'll have to order it for next week) and vanished films that once screened, were never seen again (unless you happened to be able to get to London for 2pm on a weekday afternoon for that screening of The General at the National Film Theatre).
It's true that had I had Spotify as a teenager, rather than the cassette recorder that I used to record the Top 40 on a Sunday night, then I would not now be able to sing every single word of Charlene's I've Never Been to Me. No, I would have been able to skip to something better.
