We are so often told that the Internet is the future. This World Wide Web is going to transport us through the tumultuous times ahead. However, from this seat, I haven’t seen much information or consideration of the impacts that this new way of life is having on us, as users.
The Internet is a fast moving, fast talking cyber-world where so much information is available at any time, day or night. It’s an information super-highway. It’s a wealth of knowledge waiting to be unlocked by a curious mind. It’s a place for creativity. It’s also a killer.
My attention span was pronounced dead two years ago. It took a terrible turn for the worst when I started university and was opened up to the many diverse uses for the Internet. If I’m honest, I look at a monitor for a length of about twenty seconds and get itchy fingers if I don't find exactly what I want.
Watching Doctor Who in the (new) series two, there was a particular episode that was situated within a school. Children in the classrooms were sitting in front of a computer, typing furiously and fixedly concentrating on the screen. It was as if the students were part of the technology. One signal and they were out, back to the real world, out into the playground as if nothing happened.
This can so easily be brought down to time restraints these days. For instance, reading a newspaper in the morning my lack of attention brings me to a headline and the lead but nothing more. I gain the basics of a story and move on. Is this healthy? Are global Net Citizens leading their attention spans to an early grave by logging on every day? Is this degradation of my cognitive performance a reflection of the impacts of technological advancement during the X and Y Generations?
You would hope not. Net users might become the walking dead. Stalking the streets flicking their eyes quickly towards advertisements and other stimulus. Or on the other hand they may live entirely indoors, feeding off thousands of articles and information, rarely engaging with anything in the real world.
Whether this whole attention space issue is just a personality trait of my generation I don't know, but it’s a bleak future if all the attention spans in the world have a nasty demise like mine.
R.I.P. Attention Span, I might miss you dearly if I have time
1 comment:
Yes!!! I agree with you. I find that my attention span has disappeared and has been replaced by dependence on technology. if my mobile is not within reaching distance from me at all times, i start to get anxious...dont try and tell me that this is not healthy - i know it is!! but i cant help it, what happens if i miss an important phone call from my boyfriend which could change my plans?? pathetic huh!
Post a Comment