With the surge in all kinds of media, like the internet, iPod, DVDs, etc., does the younger generation have the attention span to sit through a magic show anymore? The teens I have observed seem to get very restless very soon at any type of live performance.

What do others think about this disturbing trend?

Dai Bato

What? I forgot what we were talking about. LOL

I think this trend is also reflected in movies these days. Most things that come out of Hollywood these days are action, effects, more action with some more effects topped off with more action. What the heck ever happened to a plot line you can follow?

I haven't noticed this problem with live audiences but have noticed it with the younger generation in a non-performing atmosphere like when I visit my niece at her home. I only get to see the back of her neck as her head is frozen in a trance facing the video screen. Every now and then I get a "Huh? or "Yup" from here when asked a question.

Best,

Tim

I have always felt that a good performer giving a good performance will always be able to engage and audience.

I just saw an illusionist named Joey Bishop at the Massanutten Resort in Virginia. A good amount of the people watching were young, but he held them well, and *I* even thought the performance was a bit overlong!

I *love* my ipod!!!! I cant get through the day without that thing...i cant wait for the new ipod video to get out it is suppose to have a full touch screen. I just hope it doesent get fingerprints on it easily or scratches like the finish on the nano's which looked cool but didn't have enough storage capacity for me... speaking of which I need a new harddrive as the one I have right now is full and they are getting cheaper so I should just pick one up....

But yeah magic is cool!

Technology turns the audience into mere spectators. I think the proliferation of remote entertainment has the opposite effect from the one you suggest. In my experience people are enthusiastic about real live entertainment, especially an intimate show where there is audience participation. The spectacle is becoming monotonous, the audience thirst for real human interaction and storytelling / magic etc...

This is a good time for Cabaret!

Guy Debord.

I think the same worries were raised over that crazy gizmo the wireless radio, if I'm not mistaken, but it doesn't seem to have had a lastin... Hey, let's ride bikes!

Well Dai,

from one teacher to another, of course attention spans are shorter. What to do about it? I make sure every lesson I give, and for that matter every magic show I do is entirely interactive. Asking questions, calling for volunteers etc.

"This is a good time for Cabaret!"


What a great line! Yes it is. In getting entertainment for my Grandaughters 16th Bday...it was a matter of finding an act that could cut todays mustard crop and keep 'em engaged. We hired the hottest 'on the edge' juggling team on the planet 'Team Rootberry' who knocked the kids for a loop! I think they are still talking about it in Florida. They interacted and performed things the kids didn't know humans could do...and then stuck around for teaching sessions. These guys are the best at the trade...One even juggles Chainsaws WHILE swallowing a sword and is set on fire!

But is that what it takes? NO. They did that dangerous stuff pretty much AFTER the show was over to leave the kids with an image they won't ever forget. For the most part they earned their (high) fee by delivering the goods and like cliffg37 advises, kept it interactive. They are a world class act to be sure and brought to a birthday party the same show they do for the big venues and colleges...it was failure free but because it not only lived up to what the kids were used to on TV but FAR out did any of that and any preconceptions of what LIVE entertainment CAN be. The game needs to be 'upped' yes...the routines professional (sorry Card Ducks)...it needs to relate...do some Gambling moves and watch the attention span lengthen!...edit edit edit...or settle on doing kid shows for the Barney crowd that haven't got their hormones agitated yet. It's not a dire end nor does it have to be a disturbing trend...it just means like all other media, you have to catch up speed up and stay heads up.

If you have your act together it IS a great time for Cabaret!

On the other hand, the younger generation has a tremendous knack for sitting down and mastering intricate aspects of new technology that their parents will just give up on in frustration, or not bother with. I don't think it's a matter of longer v. shorter attention spans, but rather a matter of what sorts of things different demographics will deem worthy of their attention.

In my experience of schools it is the teachers who 'think' the kids can't concentrate as well as they used to. So they deliver short sharp shock treatment education.

I feel for the kids who are swirled round like leaves in the wind, they are not given the time to become properly absorbed. Children are excellent at concentrating if it is something of interest.

Cliff sounds like he runs a fun class. The trick is to make it fun and interesting, also the structure of education should have more cohesion across the curriculum so the children can see how it all fits together.

Don't blame the kids, yer big ninny's.

Corona

I posted same time as lobowolf,

he is far more succinct,

just ignore me.




Corona

And Doug as well, this is a hot topic!

"a matter of what sorts of things different demographics will deem worthy of their attention."

Bingo.


Corona: No. One should not ignore Liverpool

Ah the magic of words.

So convenient to offer a secret to those who will read and let the rest see only text.

As to audiences... the word you want is enrollment.

I'll second that!

How many of us offer a show that goes pretty much like this: "Watch in awe while Wonderful Me does something! Now watch me do something else! Now here's another trick, watch me do something else!"

Hooking them in to watch you at all is up to you - then you have to entertain and surprise them, not so much with your awesome magic skill as with entertainment savvy ... involve them, never let them get bored, surprise them! And leave 'em wanting more (Astaire said "Make your act perfect then cut two minutes") And, guaranteed, YOU are a heck of a lot more interested in magic (for its own sake) than they are.

Kids do live in a fast paced world nowdays, but you can definitely keep their attention with a well paced magic show. Just keep it 30 minutes or less.

Regarding iPods, I can't wait until they make the screens 32" square and I can plug it into my cable outlet.

I have found, in live performance, that if you slow down, obviously focusing before doing something difficult or dangerous, the audience comes to meet you. I don't watch televison, but every once in a while I am visiting somewhere and they have it on all the time. To me, it's always shouting, pushing, shoving, screaming. It's like a panhandler in a big city that you look right through. It doesn't ask anything meaningful of me, so I don't give it anything.

People like my glasswalking, Ladder of Swords, and escapes. I respect my audience. As Jonathan suggests, enroll them. People respond well to being offered to share an experience that will not be repeated. Give them something, don't just ask for their adulation. Whit Haydn is terrific on this subject, read his Three Card Monte and Fast and Loose notes.

Yours,

Paul

OK...but I'd much rather read your Sword Ladder notes! And those stunts you mention Doc are 'edgy'...not exactly an endless silk production from tuxedo innards while you sing slections from La Traviata....which is fine for a more sophisticated and nostalia prone audience. You are smart enough to throw a tongue stand on the head of a pin...Todays kids probably would opt for your Sword Stepping...which after all is why you do them and do not fit the pattern suggested by the original post.

Hey, I am a teen and I sit very calmly through magic shows and other live performances. altough some yes are very hyper and uncalm. some advice,if you are giving a magic show and you don't have the whole thing planned out to the exacts and you see a teen messing around in the audience call him up as a victim and start doing something that starts simple then they will try to expose you and make you look bad but as they're about to do that push the trick into an all out jaw dropper and make them look stupid. I have done that several times and it almost always makes them sit quietly for the rest of the show.

I usually find that if you... oh I can't be bothered