Comments on: How fun is the Web really?

By: Oli

Oli — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:46:52 +0000

I’m still like that, i need *something* else and i think you’re right about the stimulation theory

By: Mal

Mal — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:45:23 +0000

Online is now so intertwined in our lives it can be daunting. Like Oli, most of my interests have a huge online component and it would be near impossible to separate but forced time-outs are great for processing and internalizing all that new info.

By: Mal

Mal — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:39:52 +0000

I should also add even when I was studying at high school and uni I always needed external stimuli like music or TV. I suspect it was to keep my right brain engaged while allow the left to work unencumbered.

By: Mal

Mal — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:37:17 +0000

Its easy for us to forget how nascent the online realm really is. Behaviour takes years to change so no wonder there are so many who will take years to adapt if they ever do.

By: Mal

Mal — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:33:42 +0000

Thanks for the links Oli. And love the term “constant partial attention”. I was trying to think of something that would describe it and that fits perfectly.

By: Mike Seyfang

Mike Seyfang — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:44:20 +0000

This just in…

http://www.openculture.com/2010/06/cognitive_consequences_a_conversation_with_nicholas_carr.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

By: locspoc

locspoc — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:31:19 +0000

with so many distractions it’s very easy to become the kind of person who only reacts, it takes quite a lot of discipline to stay focused and get the important things done!

By: Ric

Ric — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:52:17 +0000

It’s sometimes hard to remember that it IS possible to turn stuff off, and indeed, when there is a time where solid concentration is required, then it is probably a good thing to be able to (likewise for the situation you mentioned – we shouldn’t ignore people in real life for those in our virtual life )
The other thing to remember, particularly with “flow” tools like Twitter, is that if it’s important, it will come past us again later, as a retweet or via an independent mention from someone else in our stream – so we don’t have to be looking at it obsessively for Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)!
This is also not exclusive to the digital natives (who are considerably younger than me) – I have NEVER in my life watched television without having something to read at the same time … it used to be exclusively the dead-tree variety, now it includes the laptop or iPhone (and now the HTC Desire as well)

By: Mike Seyfang

Mike Seyfang — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:49:28 +0000

Funny, there was much discussion (and one fight) about exactly this in my extended family over the weekend. I’m of the opinion that the internet firehose presents a new environment to which we will adapt (and I enjoy the experience of living in the augmented moment).

Those in my family who are resisting such adaptation just happen to be from ye olde scientific community – where I would argue the greatest potential for conceptual advancement exists. My readings from Castells (communication power) and the latest journal of science communications got right up their nose.

I must admit that I do have trouble ‘reading in a straight line’. My aim for the weekend was to finish reading communication power and a bunch of journal articles. I made some progress (and a great digital video remixing 19yrs of content) while drinking wine and avoiding conversation.

Nice post.

By: Oli

Oli — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:24:59 +0000

Nice post, it’s a really interesting topic.

Coming from a psychology background I love how this constant access to information, well not just information, but how access fire-hose of data changes how we think and behave.

I think we’re seeing the evolution of a new human behaviour “constant partial attention” which isn’t necessarily making us more or less intelligent (the debate is still out on that) but it’s changing the way we think and interact.

It could be said it’s encouraging weaknesses in higher-order cognition and critical thinking, it also has democratised information, encouraged experimentation (easier access to ‘disposable’ information allows us to try new out ideas quicker for ‘collisions and connections’ ) and heightened our ability to make quick decisions & process inputs. In short, it’s making us shallower & broader.

Personally, I’ve never felt the need to go completely off-the-grid, too much of what interests me has some online component or companion (football, television, music) but I agree, I think the trick is a good toolset; setting up good ring fences and gather a great set of tools like a good Twitter stream and a focused collection of news feeds and bookmarks, and to allow ourselves a balance of input and contemplation.

Those needn’t be mutually exclusive times, for me the Internet is a constant pervasive companion to my life, it assists and supports what I do but never really alters it.

There’s been som really good writing on this recently actually, from Nicolas Car on the con (http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/06/nicolas-carr-on-the-superficial-webby-mind/57610/)
and Clay Shirky on the pro (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575284973472694334.html)