Comments on: Internet = Short Attention Spans

By: kevin

kevin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:23:37 +0000

while searching on the net, we just limit our results to the maximum of two pages. We may not be able to get to depth of the query as we do not devote much time on searching.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:12:59 +0000

Reading a longer novel is such a different experience than reading stuff online that I don’t think one will have much of an effect on the other. The tactile sensations of holding a book, feeling it’s heft in your hands, and turning the pages are as much a part of taking in the story as what your eyes experience. Reading online is en entirely different sensory experience, like watching a movie is. I think that those who stop reading novels in print in preference to reading things online will do it because that online experience is one they enjoy, and reading novels in print is not.

By: Kian

Kian — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:57:06 +0000

Honestly its more of a computer based thing in general for me. If provided with a novel I can happily while away the hours reading through it, however if you were to place it on a computer I suddenly begin to find it harder to concentrate for prolonged periods of time. Any large amounts of text that I am required to read I tend to print off rather than read it online, otherwise I just begin to become impatient.

I think at least from my own experiance it is similar to what was stated in the blog “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it:”, while if I sit down with a book I have deliberatly devoted time to read and enjoy it.

By: Carnadine

Carnadine — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:50:37 +0000

I follow numerous feeds on a daily basis. I read and write blogs. I skim, condense and rush through news items in order to absorb the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of time.

According to Carr, I should be incapable of reading, absorbing or enjoying anything longer than three paragraphs. But I also read long (as in Neil-Stephenson-long or Robert-Jordan-long) epic novels and non-fiction books and I can’t say my enjoyment of either is in any way impaired.

In my opinion, dealing with the problems Carr mentions is just a matter of 1. learning how to enjoy full-sized works to begin with and 2. learning how to switch gears between skimming and actually reading.

Okay, maybe not “just”. But using Google (and the rest of the internet) isn’t going to magically make us stupid and unable to read. We just need to keep practicing the skills we want to keep.

By: docduke

docduke — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:25:14 +0000

Point very well taken, Matt! I believe the problem is more in psychology and motivation than the specific tools we choose. The internet is liberating because it provides a web of links to related subjects of potential interest. It is limiting because there are so many links, we cannot follow them all, and we may misjudge their relative merits.

The challenge is to exercise the self-discipline to learn what we can, and retain it, without being distracted by the minutia. It has always been so.

Futurismic is part of the high-value web, not the detritia. Thanks for it!