The Digital Age

I used to be an avid gamer before grad school. Now, I intend to go back to my roots. Not wanting to waste any time, I started my hunt for the ultimate gaming PC. I've been eying this Alienware desktop for the past two years and realized that there's nothing in the market that can beat it. And much as I hate to admit it, I don't need it. Why? Because it is almost good enough to send something into orbit! In fact, there is STILL no game that requires such high computing power. So in effect, most times, it is a shame to be gaming on this masterpiece. Sigh.

The point I'm trying to make here is: in this consumer driven market, why are some companies making products we have no use for at the moment?

In our quest to possess the best our money can buy, are deals and other promotions so important that we buy something we have no need for? In that way, I subscribe to Degrandpre's opinion that "faster computers and better graphics will never be enough to satisfy our technological urges."

And when it comes to this technology, there is always a dichotomy when it comes to people reaping its benefits, yet saying that there is an inherent evil in it all. With increased technological urges, I do agree that there are a lot more distractions now than ever before, but saying that it is the root cause of psychological problems, stress, etc is a little far fetched, in my opinion. Anything in moderation, surely is not a bad thing!

If you ask me, I don’t think that the shortened attention span is completely a digital phenomenon. Magazines and other visual media have long used infographics and pretty pictures to take the focus away from, than complement the text. And need I start talking about television?

Man has evolved with time and so has his responsibilities. So PDAs, mobile phones and other such devices are crammed with as much technology as possible because there is a demand for it. The very fact that devices such as the iPhones exist, is a testimony to the fact that people want to do a lot more in as limited time as possible. And since technology allows people to get as much work done in as little time as possible, I don’t see why there is such an argument as shrinking attention span and digital media.

In his book Digitopia, Richard Degrandpre, talks about a generation that is allowing the digital media to completely take over their lives. So much so that it is hard for them to do anything for a long period. I personally take offense to the generalization that we are a generation who won’t be content to sit through a three-hour epic or read an 800-page book. All this technology has only helped, if not increase our productivity. And since there is an inherent human need for hobbies and other interests, time gained can surely be invested in sleep, if not be put to use for productive work.

Linda Stone’s podcast podcast explores the last two decades of information technology and our ability to deal with and manage our daily lives together with new breakthroughs.

http://www.googleityoumoron.com

Okay, I admit it. Google is now my answer to everything. Don’t judge me, I know it’s the same for you too.

Excellent! Maybe. Or maybe our ability to retain and process information has pretty much come to an end. I was an avid quizzer till my undergraduate days. I was ranked among the top three in my state and used to be an encyclopedia of ‘unwanted’ information. The problem is, during grad school in India and while working, I started getting hooked to search engines. They sure did make fact checking easy! Considering I can’t check facts or learn new things without going to my online Mecca, I can safely say that the part of my brain that remembers things has started to rot. I can now barely remember my appointments for the day without my Google Calendar or the name of George Bush’s dog, let alone its breed! This from a person who remembers the name of the referee during the Hand of God goal – and I don’t even like soccer!

But then again, we live in an information society and we know and have access to a lot more information at our fingertips than ever before. So how are we supposed to remember anything, let alone trivia, when we can access Google from pretty much anything that has the capacity to go online? Why use a typewriter when you have a computer? Why remember possibly inane things when you have Google?

Carr observes that with the Internet, we are progressively used to skim through and jump from link to link, a habit he suspects that may have a negative effect on our brain, alienating us from serious and focused reading. In his book Digitopia, Richard Degrandpre, talks about a generation that is allowing the digital media to completely take over their lives. So much so that it is hard for them to do anything for a long period. I personally take offence to the generalization that we are a generation who won’t be content to sit through a three-hour epic or read an 800-page book. People do what they want with technology. In the same way as you choose what to write in an MSWord document, you can choose what you look for on Google. Also, with a dishwasher at home, why would you do dishes the traditional way?

Maybe I’m paranoid, or I’m just plain cynical, but there will be day when we’re going to sit at a bar and have a conversation about: Remember books? Those were the things we read before e-mail, Web browsing, and Facebook.

Humans are good at adapting, and with luck, this question too shall pass: Is Google making us stupid?