5,000 a Day?

I've been reading various reports on how many advertisements we see in one day. Way back in 2006, CBS news reported that we might see up to 5,000 ads in a day. While I think that number is high, especially for those of us not living in major cities, I still reason that everywhere I look, someone is trying desperately to get my attention.

Internet ads, spam email, billboards, mailings, radio ads, and television commercials all want my attention. 

What's it going to take to get my full attention? What will I give my attention to and why?

Our attention is a precious thing. And it's so hard to capture these days.

I'm teaching the ways we're lured into considering something is important or worthwhile by subtle (and not-so subtle) promises and ploys. For this generation of students, I love teaching the fine art of filtering information into categories of important, unimportant, essential, and non-essential.

And I must teach myself to ask, "What is this ad promising? Can it deliver on this promise?"

I'm older and wiser and trained in persuasion, yet I'm lured just the same.