Web 2.0 Has ADHD

Eric Rice posed an interesting theory last week, asking if social web early adopters have psychological disorders. My initial knee-jerk reaction was to be offended. As someone who's been wanting a plug in my head for accessing the Web since I first read Neuromancer, I thought of early adopters as eager to get to that next step in the technology progression.

Then I re-read the article and took a look at my password file. I now have over 100 user IDs and passwords in there, and that doesn't include sites I use my OpenID login for. I'm sure I can always claim that the number of accounts is due to the number of apps I review here on Profy, but the reality is that a lot of them have nothing to do with doing research for an article.

As tech users, we've developed a serious problem with attention, whether it's the latest electronics or Web apps. Everyone wants to be the one riding the front of the wave of a new trend, and if that means signing up for everything, so be it. How many people wait to buy an iPod because they are afraid a newer one will be released shortly after? How many move from social network to social network just because that's where all the "cool people" seem to be going?

We are no longer content with an application that does everything you want it to do. Even if something exists that already meets all our expectations, we are looking for the next interesting product that comes along, leaving a trail of discarded accounts and apps in our wake.