Interesting, as I had the complete opposite reaction. I found it distracting and had to scroll it off the screen to be able to focus on the content of the article.
Putting blinking things in the periphery of vision is a very well known pattern when you explicitly want to draw people's attention. If this were email notifications, blink away. But it's actively drawing the reader away from the core purpose of the site--reading the damn article--without adding anything of value.
"Oh, other people are coming here? Social validation! I'm reading the right things! Now what was I reading?" Complete malarky.
You might want to work on improving your ability to focus. If you're that easily distracted, then you might need to work on mindfulness. It isn't like it's banging a gong every time the number changes.
Putting blinking things in the periphery of vision is a very well known pattern when you explicitly want to draw people's attention. If this were email notifications, blink away. But it's actively drawing the reader away from the core purpose of the site--reading the damn article--without adding anything of value.
"Oh, other people are coming here? Social validation! I'm reading the right things! Now what was I reading?" Complete malarky.