I think that attention spans are shrinking and placing great demand on advertisers and webdesigners to squeeze more into less. Take the tamagotchi as an example. Clever design can hold a child's attention by manipulating a simple system of behaviour, feedback, reward and punishment. I find it stunning that such a mindless and overpriced trinket can keep kids quiet on long journeys.

Perhaps businesses could learn a lot from the tam -

• provide a predictable product
• interact with your market, give and receive feedback
• provide rewards
• imply punishments

If it works for a 6 year old, why won't it work for your customers? (apart from the digital poo concerns...)