So much of these issues have shaped my computer usage over the years. A good article. Of course, I have a rebuttal. You know how I am, Alvaro.
It's true about the "F" pattern of reading articles. That's how I read most articles: get the facts and save time. And my remembering of most things is tenuous at best. Scanning, however, is a study method to help students in college learn more efficiently. In the old newspaper days, the inverted triangle story format had the main facts in the first or second paragraphs. Then they were expanded in subsequent graphs with the importance of the information creating the priorities. This was a time-saving device because most people read the paper while commuting on the bus/subways. Get the information out there for quick absorption. So you see, it's not just the internet doing this. (Also, it was believed that the average reading level was at the sixth grade level.)
As for Google being our memory storage, the same can be said of books. Libraries, both public and private, are archives of information. It's always there to return to to learn something or remind/relearn from a book already read. The true use of memory to store information came before the printing press was invented. Storytellers and herbalists were the tribal or village libraries. The storytellers would tell the histories, the folktales and legends, the heroic tales of battles to the people as entertainment. The Shenachies (sp) of Ireland would actually meet every ten years to verify their stories to ensure accuracy over the decades. Herbalists (that crazy old lady out in the woods or the witch/midwife) held the secrets of medicinal and food uses for all the plants in the area. Now we have books and the Internet to help us learn ancient knowledge.
I find what you tell very interesting and you are absolutely right. In fact, the book of “The Shallows” does not start with the Internet era, but makes a historical journey similar to what you do to explain how little by little this process has already happened in other times. What “The Shallows” highlights is how this process gradually makes us lose certain cognitive qualities in favor of others.
As you say, the quick analysis of information is a quality that is now very much enhanced, that's why people read in “F” form. That makes us have worse memorization. We gain in analytical skills but lose in retention.
This has always happened and you have explained it very well, I agree with you. We are rearranging our cognitive abilities to other areas, another way of using intelligence.
If you are interested in the subject, I recommend you to read the whole book.
beyond all the comprehensive research that proves the brain re-wiring damage smartphones cause, there's one more powerful lure the phones offer up; "i will love you" is the siren song they sing to us. that emotion of wanting to be loved is the moth-to-the-flame experience we flutter around in every waking minute the phone is there.
Oh, yes, JayCee, you refer to the constant notifications and endless amusements it offers us? We always carry it with us and it is too tempting for many not to stop using it.
hi alvaro. in reply, the siren song of the phones "i will love you" is me saying every time we hear a text msg come in, or someone has "liked" a meme or post of ours, or when the damn thing actually rings with someone calling, our ancient atavistic need to be loved is stimulated. i'm thinking that's the dopamine fix we crave and become addicted to. the siren song chorus is, " i am wanted. i am loved. don't stop loving me. i am here." it's the phone's love song that keeps us listening, looking and swiping. that's my take on the dopamine fix bit. siren song, he says? how bout the great blondie and, "call me! on the line!" keep going! ur fan, j.
Ah, I guessed that's what you meant, but here the language barrier made communication a bit difficult hahaha. Indeed, there are those who have their attention completely subordinated to what a device that sounds randomly and calls you in an irresistible way says.
That makes you live in a permanent state of alert and unable to maintain deep concentration for a long time, which completely destroys productivity.
alvaro! i luv this series you bring, focusing on books. wonderful. and n. carr's shallows is rich with insight. one thing mr. carr said is that, "only smell and touch remain untouched, for now." the moment i read that line of his, i thought of the incessant swiping, touching and plain caressing of those sexy glassy pools that are the screens on the weighty phones we carry everywhere. the word "heuristics" comes to mind, to help describe the tactile features the phones demand. now i'm rambling. i think the sense of touch and the phones is already entrenched in our behavior with the phones. keep going! ur fan, j.
Hi JaCee! Phone usage is so naturalized that even the youngest children know how to use them, everyone is taught to scroll and use touch screens, it's amazing how internalized a piece of technology is in our life.
So much of these issues have shaped my computer usage over the years. A good article. Of course, I have a rebuttal. You know how I am, Alvaro.
It's true about the "F" pattern of reading articles. That's how I read most articles: get the facts and save time. And my remembering of most things is tenuous at best. Scanning, however, is a study method to help students in college learn more efficiently. In the old newspaper days, the inverted triangle story format had the main facts in the first or second paragraphs. Then they were expanded in subsequent graphs with the importance of the information creating the priorities. This was a time-saving device because most people read the paper while commuting on the bus/subways. Get the information out there for quick absorption. So you see, it's not just the internet doing this. (Also, it was believed that the average reading level was at the sixth grade level.)
As for Google being our memory storage, the same can be said of books. Libraries, both public and private, are archives of information. It's always there to return to to learn something or remind/relearn from a book already read. The true use of memory to store information came before the printing press was invented. Storytellers and herbalists were the tribal or village libraries. The storytellers would tell the histories, the folktales and legends, the heroic tales of battles to the people as entertainment. The Shenachies (sp) of Ireland would actually meet every ten years to verify their stories to ensure accuracy over the decades. Herbalists (that crazy old lady out in the woods or the witch/midwife) held the secrets of medicinal and food uses for all the plants in the area. Now we have books and the Internet to help us learn ancient knowledge.
Hi Sue! :)
I find what you tell very interesting and you are absolutely right. In fact, the book of “The Shallows” does not start with the Internet era, but makes a historical journey similar to what you do to explain how little by little this process has already happened in other times. What “The Shallows” highlights is how this process gradually makes us lose certain cognitive qualities in favor of others.
As you say, the quick analysis of information is a quality that is now very much enhanced, that's why people read in “F” form. That makes us have worse memorization. We gain in analytical skills but lose in retention.
This has always happened and you have explained it very well, I agree with you. We are rearranging our cognitive abilities to other areas, another way of using intelligence.
If you are interested in the subject, I recommend you to read the whole book.
Hugs!
more...
beyond all the comprehensive research that proves the brain re-wiring damage smartphones cause, there's one more powerful lure the phones offer up; "i will love you" is the siren song they sing to us. that emotion of wanting to be loved is the moth-to-the-flame experience we flutter around in every waking minute the phone is there.
Oh, yes, JayCee, you refer to the constant notifications and endless amusements it offers us? We always carry it with us and it is too tempting for many not to stop using it.
hi alvaro. in reply, the siren song of the phones "i will love you" is me saying every time we hear a text msg come in, or someone has "liked" a meme or post of ours, or when the damn thing actually rings with someone calling, our ancient atavistic need to be loved is stimulated. i'm thinking that's the dopamine fix we crave and become addicted to. the siren song chorus is, " i am wanted. i am loved. don't stop loving me. i am here." it's the phone's love song that keeps us listening, looking and swiping. that's my take on the dopamine fix bit. siren song, he says? how bout the great blondie and, "call me! on the line!" keep going! ur fan, j.
Ah, I guessed that's what you meant, but here the language barrier made communication a bit difficult hahaha. Indeed, there are those who have their attention completely subordinated to what a device that sounds randomly and calls you in an irresistible way says.
That makes you live in a permanent state of alert and unable to maintain deep concentration for a long time, which completely destroys productivity.
alvaro! i luv this series you bring, focusing on books. wonderful. and n. carr's shallows is rich with insight. one thing mr. carr said is that, "only smell and touch remain untouched, for now." the moment i read that line of his, i thought of the incessant swiping, touching and plain caressing of those sexy glassy pools that are the screens on the weighty phones we carry everywhere. the word "heuristics" comes to mind, to help describe the tactile features the phones demand. now i'm rambling. i think the sense of touch and the phones is already entrenched in our behavior with the phones. keep going! ur fan, j.
Hi JaCee! Phone usage is so naturalized that even the youngest children know how to use them, everyone is taught to scroll and use touch screens, it's amazing how internalized a piece of technology is in our life.