Today, in an era of social media, multiple screens and video on-demand, media engagement is increasingly optional.
Ms. Cytter, meanwhile, lays siege to the second floor, with multiple screens and monitors and large drawings in her show "Keren Cytter: The Mysterious Serious".
Even without a computer, what viewers see on their television screens is a blend of old-fashioned television dating back to the days of "American Bandstand" and the original "Soul Train" and Web-inspired multiple screens and banner text.
Among other surprises, the research found that young people aren't the only ones dividing their attention among multiple screens and machines; people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and early 50s essentially multitask for the same amount of time.
When the Devil snatches Vertov at the end, he transforms him into an image, presented on multiple screens and controlled by a bespectacled technocrat who looks a lot like Stravinsky (though Mr. Blechman says his model was Henry Kissinger).
Those mobile devices, though, will most likely never satisfy spreadsheet masters, film editors and other workers who depend on multiple screens and the precision of a keyboard and mouse.
The number of movie houses has been cut by more than half, to seven (though most now have multiple screens), and the small independent art houses just off the avenue, Le Lincoln and Le Balzac, are facing serious difficulties.
But commercial multiplexes prefer blockbusters that can play for weeks on multiple screens, and the supply of art house cinemas has been unable to keep up with the demand.
"Apple will position this like they positioned the iPhone: as a fun entertainment machine," said Don Norman, a professor at Northwestern University who has predicted the proliferation of multiple screens and devices.
The effect is not dissimilar from the design cast-off by Channel 4. Channel 5 said its new logo can be "easily adapted for use on multiple screens and platforms", reflecting the changing ways that its audience watches shows.
