Thinky thoughts

[eretria]

quiller77 linked Neither Luddite nor Biltonite, in which the author discusses the impact the internet and mobile phones have on our attention span as well as our ability to process information.

It hits a sore spot, and does pose a very valid question: Twenty years down the line, will our children, will we ourselves still be reading novels or texts longer than half a page? Will we even still be able to process the un-compressed information?

The thought scares me, because I often find myself not reading the editorials in my daily newspaper, but gear toward the shorter ones. Sure, I could give you reasons for that: I go to work by train, I have no room to unfold a big newspaper properly to read the editorial, I'm tired in the morning, the brain needs to start slowly, I'm tired in the evening when I get back home, the editorial isn't all that interesting ... except: They're excuses. I could read the damn thing. I don't always sleep on the train. It's not always crowded. The brain definitely does not need to take it easy.
So ... is this the first sign of a dwindling attention span? And if so, isn't that frigging scary? And how does one stop it?

Have you noticed a change in your reading behaviour since you first came online?

Comments

[auburn]

Have you noticed a change in your reading behaviour since you first came online?

Hell yes. My ability to concentrate and stick to one thing has definitely suffered from the Internet. That said, I still prefer a long fic to a short one, I will still read a long article and often find myself frustrated by the lack of depth in most articles (and think that sometimes the reason I flit away is the lack of real content), and I still read books. Though it's harder to stick with a book these days, I think that that is in part my age: I'm no longer patient enough or desperate enough to slog through the mediocre.

If I have to be away from the Internet (and usually the computer too) it takes me about twelve to twenty-four hours and I stop twitching. I do think I'd be better off if I metered my internet usage. But I'd be better off if I exercised more and ate vegetarian. ::shrug:: Like the Vulcans say, kaiidith. (It is what it is.)

Then again, while I am happy to confess to being an Internet addict, I still don't have a cell phone. I'm a fringe type and undoubtedly don't reflect the attitudes or thinking of teenagers who have grown up on the Internet.

[enname]

No, not really. Possibly because I am not fond of reading at a computer in the first place, and so try to do as little as I can. I don't twitter, or tweet or whatever it is, and I don't have a cell phone. Certainly it is nice to have things to hand, but I have never been very good at brevity in any form.

Correspondingly I also spend a lot of my time reading books and texts that were written in periods of time where there was no back space, and often move slower than a lame glacier. Even outside of reading Bede, Marsiglio of Padua or some theologian, I rather enjoy the slow wind of Proust as well as the crack and fire of a short story. More often than not I am annoyed that the optometrist has ordered me to read with breaks to rest my eyes.

Of course there are days when I have no attention span, but then generally I have none for anything at all. I've always read four or five things on the go - pre internet days as well! Not to mention if an article is ill written and dull, or a book is driving me to want to kill myself then I have got to the point where I don't see why I should subject myself to finishing it. Not when there are other better written versions out there.

I would suggest that learning to slow down, make time and just enjoy the pace that is set may be the only way. There is no quick fix, no flick of a button or key.