AASAG Strikes Again

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I recently bought the May 2010 issue of Woman's Day magazine, foolishly thinking I was purchasing a magazine of well-researched and thoughtfully written articles.
Sadly, when I got home and sat down to read, I instead found page after page of side bars.
Many, many sidebars.
A plethora of side bars.
Side bars next to other side bars instead of supporting an actual article on the same page.
Apparently the "twit"-ter mentality of 140 characters or less has permeated what one supposes is an  "editorial" staff and we, the readers, are supposed to just skim through tidbits of information --- because we lack the attention span to do otherwise???
Wrong.
Some of us in the real world still read.
We can follow a story, an idea or a theory through from beginning to end across several pages of actual text.
Yes, yes we look at the pictures (and find them immensely helpful in DIY projects and illustrating points).
But we want to actually read an article!
We want to be immersed in an idea. 
We want to go deeper than a headline.
We want a real magazine, damn it!

Alas, it appears - to this reader - that even the magazine of
"live well every day"
has succumbed to
The American Attention Span of A Gnat
(a.k.a. "The AASAG")
school of information dissemination.

And why not?

It has worked so well for politicians.
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