This article was quite interesting because I found that it was describing phenomena that I had experienced. In fact as I was reading the article, I found that I was fighting the urge to skim it just as Carr said I would. The more I thought about it the more I realized how much the collective mindset of the masses is changing due to the internet. First we have become more likely to use nouns as verbs. For example we now "google" something instead of "searching for it on google." More recently, we now "friend" people on Facebook rather than "sending a friend request." This use of nouns as verbs is probably linked to my second point: our need for as Wolf put it "efficiency and immediacy" or as I like to think of it our inherent laziness. People have now become impatient. Carr says that we are more likely to skim articles of relative length and I find that I too am guilty to that. Also while waiting for pages to load online I find that if it takes more than five seconds, I'll begin to complain about how long it's taking to load. Carr has a heck of a point. The scariest part though is that this has been a change occurring over the last decade to the adults, but what about us kids and teenagers raised in this lifestyle. If this is truly a change within our brains than is there no hope for the future generations? I guess only time can tell, but this means something has to be done so that literature and prose of length doesn't become a lost art form like original ideas for daytime television.
No, Breahna...I will probably put up actual websites rather than just an article. In the past, I've posted Postman sites and Brave New World sites...dunno exactly what I'll choose this year. Gimme a week or so to figure it out. At least. I'm teaching at CSULB right now (Young Writer's Camp!), so my mind is split between those writers and you guys.
The Shallows is blowing my mind.
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd mention that.
This article was quite interesting because I found that it was describing phenomena that I had experienced. In fact as I was reading the article, I found that I was fighting the urge to skim it just as Carr said I would. The more I thought about it the more I realized how much the collective mindset of the masses is changing due to the internet. First we have become more likely to use nouns as verbs. For example we now "google" something instead of "searching for it on google." More recently, we now "friend" people on Facebook rather than "sending a friend request." This use of nouns as verbs is probably linked to my second point: our need for as Wolf put it "efficiency and immediacy" or as I like to think of it our inherent laziness. People have now become impatient. Carr says that we are more likely to skim articles of relative length and I find that I too am guilty to that. Also while waiting for pages to load online I find that if it takes more than five seconds, I'll begin to complain about how long it's taking to load.
ReplyDeleteCarr has a heck of a point. The scariest part though is that this has been a change occurring over the last decade to the adults, but what about us kids and teenagers raised in this lifestyle. If this is truly a change within our brains than is there no hope for the future generations? I guess only time can tell, but this means something has to be done so that literature and prose of length doesn't become a lost art form like original ideas for daytime television.
Mrs. Fletcher, Is this one of the six-or-so Webographies that we are assigned to annotate?
ReplyDeleteNo, Breahna...I will probably put up actual websites rather than just an article. In the past, I've posted Postman sites and Brave New World sites...dunno exactly what I'll choose this year. Gimme a week or so to figure it out. At least. I'm teaching at CSULB right now (Young Writer's Camp!), so my mind is split between those writers and you guys.
ReplyDelete