Digital Overload Is Frying Our Brains

And here's a blog post on Wired.com about something we've been discussing in class: technology (and, with it, the overload of information) and how it affects our attention. Very interesting!

In Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, Jackson explores the effects of "our high-speed, overloaded, split-focus and even cybercentric society" on attention. It's not a pretty picture: a never-ending stream of phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, text messages and tweets is part of an institutionalized culture of interruption, and makes it hard to concentrate and think creatively.

Reading week 4- Eun Sook - Short attention span as a goldfish.

While I was reading “A New Perspective on Business: Welcome to the attention economy,” I realized my attention span is very short. I read the first several paragraphs. Then I was logging on my email account. I went back to reading, and I was googling and etc. I’m sure my language barrier takes a part in it, but it was shocking to realize my short attention span.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1834682.stm

This is a news article that tells our short attention span on web browsing is 9 seconds, the same as goldfish.

As the author says, there are too many information in the online world. I really agree with this. When I used to commute to my school by subway, which usually took about 40 minutes, I used to read a book. I I could concentrated on my reading, but now I go to school with my laptop, and I listen music, check emails, reading articles, browsing the web, and etc. Whenever I turned on my laptop, there are so many things to do.

Is there any way that I can have longer attention span? How do you manage with this phenomenon?

Sometimes I get tired of checking emails and web browsing. So during the weekends, I do not log on the Internet intentionally and have some fresh air and try to read hard-copy of book.