I've become much better at remembering complicated passwords.
Also, on a daily basis, one or more conversations contain the sentence "well I should google that to make sure" and then I usually do.
shawn
· 1 year ago
unit...can your phone google? I didn't realize how often during the day I'd consult my phone on a question/definition/history issue (google/ask/wiki) until I was in the UK last week, and didn't have Sprint service.
Yowch.
Michael F. Martin
· 1 year ago
As a heavy internet user, I have noticed changes in my behavior and thought processes too. The biggest problem seems to be that you have to really use your imagine to guess from the written words on blogs and blog comments what other people are really trying to say. This is both good and bad. It kind of enhances whatever natural verbal skills you might have to begin with. But it kind of atrophies other social skills, such as the ability to read facial expressions and communicate through other nonverbal cues. A computer screen is a very narrow bandwidth means for communicating between people. I look forward to seeing the medium evolve to take advantage of the nonverbal means for communicating that we possess.
Ray G
· 1 year ago
I don't remember very many phone numbers anymore.
I'm finishing up Shelby Foote's first volume on the Civil War via one of those old fashioned books, and I just finished Joseph Ellis' American Creation on my iPod (audible.com).
I couldn't read both of them at the same time, but having the one on my ipod at work, doing yard work, etc enables me to get more information in a shorter period of time. I obviously get more out of an old fashioned read, but the information I do absorb from the audio book is still valuable, I just don't absorb as much.
That, and the two books compliment each other well. The read book being the foundation, the audio book being supplemental.
All of that and I don't have a television, so that puts me several steps ahead in my opinion.
Steve S
· 1 year ago
Russ - VS Naipaul in "Beyond Belief" writes about how little is left of the early Indonesian civilization because of the lack of a written language. He opined for a civilization, such as the early Indonesians, to rely only upon memory was to be doomed to recycle themselves every 400 years.
Unit
· 1 year ago
Shawn,
I'm a troglodyte when it comes to cell phones. But maybe I'll get there one day.
Matt
· 1 year ago
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
Matt
· 1 year ago
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
Matt
· 1 year ago
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
Matt
· 1 year ago
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
Matt
· 1 year ago
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
Matt
· 1 year ago
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
Marcus
· 1 year ago
"Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages."
Perhaps you're just getting older and your concentration isn't what it used to be.
When I was in my 20's I would concentrate so deeply on a problem that the outside world and time itself would cease to exist.
No in my 40's, that's rarely the case.
vidyohs
· 1 year ago
There is a certain inevitability about things.
Use TV to raise your children and they are going to grow up with very little of your ability to concentrate on anything for as long as you do. I might add that this is a progressive thing. Your grandchildren will probably not be able to concentrate to the degree your children did.
I didn't see a TV until I was in the 8th grade and we didn't own one until I was a Sophomor. Consequently I am a reader and I can determine in very short order if what I am reading is what I want to pursue. If not, I move on to another book. If it is then I can read until dust settles on the cobwebbs that form around me as I read.
My children were not exposed to TV until they were in late adolesence and they didn't see a video game until well into their teens. They are all readers who can concentrate.
From my aged stand point the evil of TV and the newer electronic gadgets is that it has been suppressing or destroying the common sharp imagination we here in this nation had prior to commercial TV.
Bob Smith
· 1 year ago
I read Churchill's "History of the English Speaking People" twice a year and re-read one of Clancy's novels at least once every 3 - 4 months. While I have to admit that I do it for my own pleasure, I have noticed that I am still able to concentrate on other projects for sustained periods of time, as I was able to in my youth. That I teach securities (Series 7, 6, Group 1, etc.), which requires deep concentration, may also be significant. But, it's no more difficult for me today at 55 than it was at 20. Having said all that, for those having difficulty maintaining focus, it may be more of being out of practice rather than losing any inate abilities. At least that's my hope.
gregorylent
· 1 year ago
nick carr is not a yogi, clearly
his consciousness is expanding, and he doesn't know how to understand that...
All Comments
I've become much better at remembering complicated passwords.
Also, on a daily basis, one or more conversations contain the sentence "well I should google that to make sure" and then I usually do.
unit...can your phone google? I didn't realize how often during the day I'd consult my phone on a question/definition/history issue (google/ask/wiki) until I was in the UK last week, and didn't have Sprint service.
Yowch.
As a heavy internet user, I have noticed changes in my behavior and thought processes too. The biggest problem seems to be that you have to really use your imagine to guess from the written words on blogs and blog comments what other people are really trying to say. This is both good and bad. It kind of enhances whatever natural verbal skills you might have to begin with. But it kind of atrophies other social skills, such as the ability to read facial expressions and communicate through other nonverbal cues. A computer screen is a very narrow bandwidth means for communicating between people. I look forward to seeing the medium evolve to take advantage of the nonverbal means for communicating that we possess.
I don't remember very many phone numbers anymore.
I'm finishing up Shelby Foote's first volume on the Civil War via one of those old fashioned books, and I just finished Joseph Ellis' American Creation on my iPod (audible.com).
I couldn't read both of them at the same time, but having the one on my ipod at work, doing yard work, etc enables me to get more information in a shorter period of time. I obviously get more out of an old fashioned read, but the information I do absorb from the audio book is still valuable, I just don't absorb as much.
That, and the two books compliment each other well. The read book being the foundation, the audio book being supplemental.
All of that and I don't have a television, so that puts me several steps ahead in my opinion.
Russ - VS Naipaul in "Beyond Belief" writes about how little is left of the early Indonesian civilization because of the lack of a written language. He opined for a civilization, such as the early Indonesians, to rely only upon memory was to be doomed to recycle themselves every 400 years.
Shawn,
I'm a troglodyte when it comes to cell phones. But maybe I'll get there one day.
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
I suffer video game degeneration. Is that the same thing?
"Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages."
Perhaps you're just getting older and your concentration isn't what it used to be.
When I was in my 20's I would concentrate so deeply on a problem that the outside world and time itself would cease to exist.
No in my 40's, that's rarely the case.
There is a certain inevitability about things.
Use TV to raise your children and they are going to grow up with very little of your ability to concentrate on anything for as long as you do. I might add that this is a progressive thing. Your grandchildren will probably not be able to concentrate to the degree your children did.
I didn't see a TV until I was in the 8th grade and we didn't own one until I was a Sophomor. Consequently I am a reader and I can determine in very short order if what I am reading is what I want to pursue. If not, I move on to another book. If it is then I can read until dust settles on the cobwebbs that form around me as I read.
My children were not exposed to TV until they were in late adolesence and they didn't see a video game until well into their teens. They are all readers who can concentrate.
From my aged stand point the evil of TV and the newer electronic gadgets is that it has been suppressing or destroying the common sharp imagination we here in this nation had prior to commercial TV.
I read Churchill's "History of the English Speaking People" twice a year and re-read one of Clancy's novels at least once every 3 - 4 months. While I have to admit that I do it for my own pleasure, I have noticed that I am still able to concentrate on other projects for sustained periods of time, as I was able to in my youth. That I teach securities (Series 7, 6, Group 1, etc.), which requires deep concentration, may also be significant. But, it's no more difficult for me today at 55 than it was at 20. Having said all that, for those having difficulty maintaining focus, it may be more of being out of practice rather than losing any inate abilities. At least that's my hope.
nick carr is not a yogi, clearly
his consciousness is expanding, and he doesn't know how to understand that...
not sure about the writer of this post