In Jeremy Price's post on attention in "Smelly Knowledge," he quotes anthropologist Michael Wesch:
"In a hyper-connected world, we now find ourselves in multiple conversations at once, both real and virtual, and are often putting forth different masks, faces, identities, and selves in each one.
As interesting as the multi-tasking discussion is, it becomes especially interesting to me to consider the idea that we might also be “multi-selfing” as we bounce between our e-mails, tweets, texts, status updates, etc."
I find the accessibility to so much information a double-edged sword. While it plugs into the aspect of my thinking that is lateral and associative in natural and comfortable ways, I also find it supremely distracting. It disperses my attention so thinly that I do not read in the same way that has been intrinsic to me throughout most of my life. Historically, I have read slowly, thoughtfully and have made many lateral associations in my mind to my concrete experience--or to other books or world events. This is what we in elementary school call "text to self," "text to text" and "text to world" connections. That catalog of connections has now been expanded to "text to web"--which exponentially expands the number and kind of connections, This can serve to expand one's experience--but it is a virtual experience--I find I am by necessity reading more rapidly and superficially--plucking out juicy tidbits and laterally connecting. Ironically, I read more volume, but less deeply and so tangentially that I end up either off topic--or worse, forgetting exactly what I was looking for to begin with. This is ultimately unsettling--and inefficient. By its very nature of permitting distractions and not filtering sites qualitatively, it may actually preclude deep, original thought. RSS feeds can create qualitative filters, but one must take time to peruse them in order to make those determinations.
Web reading is changing my very identity as a reader, and while I may have some facility with it, I am not certain it is ultimately desirable.
What an interesting post. Text to web is different, I admit. And although it is different, it is an important addition to a reader's toolbox (and it sounds like you begrudgingly agree?)
ReplyDeleteStill, curling up with a good book (whether paper or Kindle!) is still wonderful and should be cherished.