As I sit in front of my laptop, the television is on, mobile phone next to me, Facebook and Twitter are up and essays are being written at an extremely slow pace; truly distracted and unable to concentrate on one thing let alone everything all at once. It seems as if digital media has split my mind in such a way that my attention span is now about 5 minutes at its peak. “Being exposed to both traditional media and modern digital devices adds stress to one’s life.” (Finkelmeyer, 2010) A simple statement, which when applied to my media usage could not be more accurate.
There have been many studies and articles about this topic; how being constantly ‘plugged in’ is impairing the way we learn, read and take in information. A study conducted by David Nicholas ‘Viewing and Reading Behaviour in a Virtual Environment’ (Nicholas, 2008) showed that an average reading time for 10+ page printed academic paper took around 22-45 minutes; however the online version was being read on average in 74 seconds. This dramatically decreased time shows that the internet has affected the way in which we read. Finishing it as quickly as possible to get back to the other online distractions we have rapidly become addicted to. Nothing from this essay would be taken in in a mere 74 seconds.
Personally I do not wish to be distracted by this media, social networks and more. They have just become a compulsion of mine, I have to check my emails, Facebook notifications, new tweets and text messages every couple of minutes. A Constant headache is the only product from my online activities. Social Networks are a feature on the internet created to connect people but instead of actually communicating with others they offer applications to play, a way to spy on what your ‘friends’ are doing and look at pictures, the sociability of Social Networks is arguable.
Personally I do not wish to be distracted by this media, social networks and more. They have just become a compulsion of mine, I have to check my emails, Facebook notifications, new tweets and text messages every couple of minutes. A Constant headache is the only product from my online activities. Social Networks are a feature on the internet created to connect people but instead of actually communicating with others they offer applications to play, a way to spy on what your ‘friends’ are doing and look at pictures, the sociability of Social Networks is arguable.
Some use digital media ‘purposefully’ as a distraction from the outside world, or their surrounding environment. For example many gamers will enter their virtual reality to escape frustrations of the ‘real world’. People put their iPods on to avoid strangers talking to them; many forums on the internet claiming that an important use of the Apple iPod is to block out annoying people. This has made me realise what damage the new digital media is causing to our social circumstance. Youths, and increasingly some adults, would rather relate to a machine than another human being.
In his blog, Adam Thierer, lays out the arguments of who he describes as the internet pessimists and optimists (Thierer, 2010) The optimists believe that the ‘net’ is participatory and supplies the tools to educate whereas the pessimists believe that the ‘net’ is polarizing and is ‘dumbing- down’ the public. Although I believe that to a certain extent the internet can educate and connect people, the good is often outweighed by the rubbish distracting features that the web holds.
In his blog, Adam Thierer, lays out the arguments of who he describes as the internet pessimists and optimists (Thierer, 2010) The optimists believe that the ‘net’ is participatory and supplies the tools to educate whereas the pessimists believe that the ‘net’ is polarizing and is ‘dumbing- down’ the public. Although I believe that to a certain extent the internet can educate and connect people, the good is often outweighed by the rubbish distracting features that the web holds.
All this considered it is not only new media that can be blamed for being a major distraction, television has been around for decades and still acts as a vice to my productivity. In ‘Inside Family Viewing: Ethnographic Research on Television Audiences’ by James Lull, he touches upon the social uses of television. One of the uses is ‘Avoidance’ (Lull, 1990: p. 38). Television is often the centre of the family living room, furniture will often be pointed towards it; although a family may sit down to watch programmes together there is a sense of wanting to escape, ‘It also becomes a resource for escape- not just from the personal problems or responsibilities of the individual viewer, but from the social environment’ (Walters and Stone, 1975) television gives the illusion of a parallel world, not having to face the realities of everyday life. In my case, television acts as an escape from work and alternatively boredom. Instead of going out or doing something productive I choose to eradicate my time in front of a screen, absorbing all of my attention but on a lazy level. There is no need to concentrate on what is on T.V, therefore are we all becoming media drones? Dumbstruck zombies with no need to think for ourselves.
New digital media and the existing media seem to be affecting our daily lives and social interaction. With visual and audio media forever being developed, the question on whether we are going too far is raised. Is the 1st world at a point where we cannot be unplugged? This argument coming from a hypocrite, plugged in to the laptop as I type this blog. A controlled blackout and shut down of electricity would not go a miss for the sake of my melting brain
New digital media and the existing media seem to be affecting our daily lives and social interaction. With visual and audio media forever being developed, the question on whether we are going too far is raised. Is the 1st world at a point where we cannot be unplugged? This argument coming from a hypocrite, plugged in to the laptop as I type this blog. A controlled blackout and shut down of electricity would not go a miss for the sake of my melting brain
Nicholas, D et al (2008) Viewing and Reading Behaviour in a Virtual Environment [WWW] Available from: http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=utk_infosciepubs&sei-redir=1#search="David+Nicholas+‘Viewing+and+Reading+Behaviour+in+a+Virtual+Environment’+2008" (accessed on 12/01/2011)
Nicholas, D (2008) Viewing and Reading Behaviour in a Virtual Environment in Debate Research: The Internet is Making Us Stupid [WWW] Available from: http://www.thomascrampton.com/internet/debate-the-internet-is-making-us-stupid/ (Accessed on 13/01/2011)
Thierer, A (2010) Are You An Internet Optimist or Pessimist? The Great Debate over Technology’s Impact on Society [WWW] Available from: http://techliberation.com/2010/01/31/are-you-an-internet-optimist-or-pessimist-the-great-debate-over-technology%E2%80%99s-impact-on-society/ (Accessed on 13/01/2011)
Lull, J (1990) Inside Family Viewing: Ethnographic Research on Television’s Audiences in Lull, J (ed.) The Social Uses of Television London: Comedia/ Routledge : pp.28-48
The worthless (yet great) distractions that the internet provides the unwitting trying desperately to work
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