iPad is the world’s biggest distraction

Monica Bulger, the research assistant at Oxford Internet Institute spoke today during INMA’s Oxford Tablet Summit about the importance of the content, and an easiness to distract the reader.

Whenever somebody comes to the site, he is distracted and have always many other things to do. The key question for publishers will be how to keep the reader interested?

iPad of course is the new era, but certain things are not going to change. Among those are
the way we prefer to read. Those who read from left to right – will continue to do so. These who get distracted by flashy advertisemnts, will continue to do so.

Publishers must bare in mind the cognitive load rule. The content has to be meaningful. The story matters. The goal should be to make people return to the content. The way publishers organize their stories is most important to keep the reader.

The problem with reading is the distraction – when the reader gets to the last point of the read, he often does not remember where he started. It is so because of the information overload.
iPad is on one hand the world’s largest distraction – with all applications and availability to switch from one app to another, it makes harder for reader to focus.

A good example of a cognitive container is the printed newspaper.  When you read it on the bus or at home, you seldom have any distractions. Bearing that in mind, the key issue for publishers should be to prepare such application that will keep the reader off the distractions. Strong content in that case can combat the distraction (example: the infographics shown by Chiqui Esteban).

At the end of her speech, Monica Bulger quoted the US president: “With iPods and iPads and xboxes and playstations – none of which i know how to use – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation” (Obama, May 2010)

If iPads are the savior of the newspapers, news will be the savior of the iPad – Bulger concluded

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