Since this class began I have been trying to get through all the bookmarks I saved to Delicious and Reader – The Daily Beast (probably got through a quarter of the email update, 4 more waiting to be opened), The Content Makers (never viewed), Jay Rosen Twitter (247 updates since I last checked) are amongst the 50 odd subscriptions I now have, not to mention doing the readings for 3 subjects, checking my personal, work and uni email address whilst texting my friend and updating my facebook status (Eleni says yes to Mad Men action figures).
BUT……..it’s not just me, according to Sam Anderson in an article written for New York Magazine (a subscription I have both in print and digital format) we live in a culture of Distraction. In In Defence of Distraction, he quotes economist Herbert Simon who states “…a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” But this isn’t really true is it?!
My primary school and high school reports were riddles with the same statements year after year. “Eleni is lacking Attention” “if Eleni focussed she would retain more information’. I went to school in the early 90s when the Internet was still being integrated into education programming. We did things one at a time and according to my teachers, I was still distracted. The irony for me is that whilst ‘power browsing’ grows, I feel I have become more accustom to this type of reading or research, and If I have, the kids who have grown up as ‘digital natives’ will have definitely acclimatised to the many distractions they are presented with.
One of Andersons key points is to embrace the so called poverty of attention because this time isn’t being wasted in fact we are learning to accommodate.
My question to you is, how much of what you read actually sticks?
maybe the only things we need stick and the rest is just the excess that we will never use? this is probably a bit too optimistic.. im one of the distracted ones for sure.
ReplyDeleteI think my brain has a capacity for information, and once it is reached, useless facts (probably things I crammed into my brain for my undergrad degree) are pushed out to make way for new and probably equally useless information. I really need to concentrate when I'm reading something and I want to remember it, especially if it's homework related, and I'm useless at quoting book passages or remembering jokes. Unfortunately I didn't inherit my dad's photographic memory- would've been quite handy.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, my time and attention is probably wasted when I cruise around the internet, particularly if I'm looking at stuff that doesn't really interest me or I don't need to store in my brain. This is pretty obvious though, I would've thought, and is probably the same for most people...right?
Depends what you are reading. I can still distinctly remember certain chapters of my history text book from year 9 because of distinctive images accompanying the text, specific names that caught my attention, and a certain relevance to my own life. (The fact that we were tested on it probably helped the memory too). The psychologist in me knows that relevance is the most important part, and why studying techniques are most effective when combined with familiar images, or incorporation into social situations (i.e. make your boyfriend put a definition into his own words for a term you have trouble with). We use chunking in digital publishing, right? Its to help you process large amounts of info. We are bombarded with so much info on the daily, that making something relevant to you, or putting it into original thoughts is the best way to retain it.
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