losing our ability to strike a balance
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 08:40PM According to The Shallows, a new book by technology sage Nicholas Carr, our hyperactive online habits are damaging the mental faculties we need to process and understand lengthy textual information. Round-the-clock news feeds leave us hyperlinking from one article to the next — without necessarily engaging fully with any of the content; our reading is frequently interrupted by the ping of the latest email; and we are now absorbing short bursts of words on Twitter and Facebook more regularly than longer texts.
Which all means that although, because of the internet, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of factual titbits, we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, contemplate, and relate all these facts to each other. And so, as Carr writes, “we’re losing our ability to strike a balance between those two very different states of mind. Mentally, we’re in perpetual locomotion”. — The Art of Slow Reading
Reader Comments (6)
one problem is, these kids are talking to each other and working together in the same way .. there isn't anyone to point out the emperor is naked. i keep reading articles by college professors bemoaning how today's students can't read, can't write, can't debate, can't *think*. but even worse -- they *think* they *can*!
we've not only impaired them intellectually, we've given them a completely false idea of their own abilities.
se7en, i'm glad i could do that. :^)
so true re: a day outside .. it really refills the well. there is something empty and unsatisfying about a lot of time spent trolling the internet; it's like empty calories. with nicotine.
"there is something empty and unsatisfying about a lot of time spent trolling the internet" Isn't THAT the truth!?
I'm glad to be able to come here and get some real nutrition for my brain!
you are so sweet .. thank you!
xoxo