Unplugged

[GratefulCitizen]

Curious what others think of this article.
Booted internet from my house over 18 months ago.

Now dependent on the internet cafe schedule (or other public terminals).
Don't regret it one bit, especially given the effect on my kids .

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/...carr-shallows/

When author Nicholas Carr began researching his book on whether the Internet is ruining our minds, he restricted his online access and e-mail and turned off his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

His new book "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" argues the latest technology renders us less capable of deep thinking. Carr found himself so distracted that he couldn't work on the book while staying as connected, as is commonplace.

"I found my inability to concentrate a great disability," Carr told Reuters in an interview.

"So, I abandoned my Facebook and Twitter accounts and throttled back on e-mail so I was only checking a couple of times a day rather than every 45 seconds. I found those types of things really did make a difference," he said.

After initially feeling "befuddled" by his sudden lack of online connection, Carr said, within a couple of weeks he was able to stay focused on one task for a sustained period and, thankfully, able to do his work.

Carr wrote a 2008 Atlantic magazine piece that posed the controversial question "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" and wanted to dig deeper into how the Internet alters our minds.

His book examines the history of reading and the science of how using different media changes our brains. Exploring how society shifted from an oral tradition to the printed word and to the Internet, he details how the brain rewires itself to adjust to new information sources.

Reading on the Internet has fundamentally changed how we use our brains, he writes.

Facing a torrent of text, photos, video, music and links to other web pages combined with incessant interruptions from text messages, e-mails, Facebook updates, Tweets, blogs and RSS feeds, our minds have become used to skimming, browsing and scanning information.

As a result, we have developed sharper skills at making fast decisions, particularly visual ones, Carr says.

But now most of us infrequently read books, long essays or articles that would help us focus, concentrate and be introspective and contemplative, Carr writes.

ARE WE LIBRARIANS?

He says we are becoming more like librarians -- able to find information quickly and discern the best nuggets -- than scholars who digest and interpret information.

That lack of focus hinders our long-term memory, leading many of us to feel distracted, he said.

"We never engage the deeper, interpretive functions of our brains," he said.

To illustrate, he likens short-term memory to a thimble and long-term memory to a large bathtub. Reading a book is like filling the tub with water from one steadily flowing faucet with each thimble of information building upon the last.

By contrast, the Internet is countless fast-flowing faucets, leaving us grasping for thimbles of disparate information to put in the tub and making it harder for our brains to draw connections and have cogent recall.

"What we are losing is a whole other set of mental skills, the ones that require not the shifting of our focus but the maintaining of our focus," Carr said.

"Contemplation, introspection, reflection -- there is no space or time for those on the Internet."

Carr says for centuries books shielded our brains from distraction, focusing our minds on one topic at a time.

But with devices such as Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad, which incorporate eReaders and web browsers, becoming commonplace, Carr predicts books too will change.

"New forms of reading always require new forms of writing," he said.

If writers cater to a society that is chronically distracted, they will inevitably eschew writing complex arguments that require sustained attention and instead write in pithy, bite-sized bits of information, Carr predicts.

Carr has a suggestion for those who feel web surfing has left them incapable of concentration -- slow down, turn off the Internet and practice the skills of contemplation, introspection and reflection.

"It is pretty clear from the brain science that if you don't exercise particular cognitive skills, you are going to lose them," he said. "If you are constantly distracted, you are not going to think in the same way that you would think if you paid attention."

[dr. mabuse]

*

[Gypsy]

Well, I've scaled back with "online time" and definitely feel less...distracted. I spend more time concentrating on work when at work (what a concept!), and reading/relaxing/doing projects when at home.

Every now and then I take a whole weekend off from computer time. After about the first hour of "what am I missing" it's all good and I feel free.

[echoes]

Originally Posted by GratefulCitizen

Curious what others think of this article.
Booted internet from my house over 18 months ago.

Now dependent on the internet cafe schedule (or other public terminals).
Don't regret it one bit, especially given the effect on my kids .

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/...carr-shallows/

Am 36, and have never sent a "text message"...and am proud of it!

Wow, well GC, you are a brave soul, from what I gather about the Internet these days!!!

Am following your train-of-thought though.....The Internet seems akin to the public water supply.....No One Knows what will happen....

Holly

[echoes]

Holly

[GratefulCitizen]

Originally Posted by echoes

Am 36, and have never sent a "text message"...and am proud of it!

Wow, well GC, you are a brave soul, from what I gather about the Internet these days!!!

Am following your train-of-thought though.....The Internet seems akin to the public water supply.....No One Knows what will happen....

Holly

Disabled text messaging some time ago as well.
Cable TV went the same time as internet.

The kids still get to do internet here at the cafe and at the library.
They also get to watch plenty of DVDs.

The interesting effect on the kids is something I call "capturing".

When the TV followed a schedule, they knew that they would miss what was on if they didn't watch it "right now".
With DVDs, they can watch, rewind, and skip around at their leisure.

Slightly different with internet.
It was a path of least resistance when they were bored.

Now when they're bored, they have to get creative.
The TV, lacking the urgency element, and the internet, being elsewhere, can no longer "capture" their attention.

Of course, as adults, we are immune to being "captured" by internet or TV.
So, the last time you sat down for "just a minute" to google a minor fact or flipped on Fox news to check the headline...
how many hours did you kill?

When on their death bed, how many people wish they had spent more time on the internet or watching TV?
Time is all we have, use it wisely.

[Richard]

Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/te...er=rss&emc=rss

An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness

Some experts believe excessive use of the Internet, cellphones and other technologies can cause us to become more impatient, impulsive, forgetful and even more narcissistic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/te...ref=technology

More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence

While most Americans say devices like smartphones, cellphones and personal computers have made their lives better and their jobs easier, some say they have been intrusive, increased their levels of stress and made it difficult to concentrate, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

Younger people are particularly affected: almost 30 percent of those under 45 said the use of these devices made it harder to focus, while less than 10 percent of older users agreed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/te...ref=technology

And so it goes...

Richard