Forums

Posted: 05-10-2013 12:18 Post subject:

Thanks Pietro.

If I do a search for a product, I am bombarded with ads for similar products.
Even my youtube searches contain irrelvant links to something I may have previously looked at. Sometimes this happens if I've mentioned something in an email. So it isn't just a question of digestion of information but it's the filtering of information relevant to an individual's world view that will become an issue.

The future will be an odd time where the first five pages on a search will point you at ideas that integrate with the thoughts you've already twittered and for those with short attention spans, it'll be difficult to get beyond this and find a contrary opinion or in some cases, the truth. (should such a thing exist).

Ten years ago, the average attention span was 12 minutes. Now it's just 5 seconds. - I find that a bit worrying.

Posted: 05-10-2013 12:27 Post subject:

Of course, it could just be that there are a lot more people out there, being prompted to think about a subject, perhaps for the first time. Lacking the basic skills, but still proffering an opinion. Not people losing skills, but more people being engaged in the process.

Glass half empty, or half full?

Posted: 05-10-2013 13:08 Post subject:

We have a similar thread from 2010,
Internet 'rewiring brains'
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=952105#952105

(Which is more proof that the world is overpopulated - it's almost impossible to find an original idea, because someone else has already come up with it! Twisted Evil

)

Posted: 05-10-2013 19:39 Post subject:

Threads merged. P_M

Posted: 05-10-2013 20:06 Post subject:

I think it may be a case of more information, more availability, but the majority of people don't have the ability to deal with it all. We just noticed it more because the information is now more available, all over the place. People who don't have the ability or inclination to assimilate large amounts of diverse information now routinely look for information at all times of the day.
As has always been the case, the intellectual top few % will be the ones who can (and will) best use that information.

My sister, her husband and their 2 sons are all examples of people who have done well academically, yet not one of them will read a book for pleasure. As a consequence, they actually don't know very much (i.e. general knowledge).
It is a source of frustration sometimes, when I have to explain basic concepts to my sister - it is almost as if speaking to a child. I keep telling her that if she wants to find out stuff, it's pretty much all there on the Internet (well almost), but she won't use it to further her education.
So... it's not just the younger generation.

Posted: 06-10-2013 10:50 Post subject:

Myth...did you look at the link to the infographic?

It proposes that social media sites are having a very clear effect on attention spans and ability to retain information. Especially when that information is packaged in a video rather than just text alone. While you can argue there have always been those with short attention spans, the data points to a real and growing problem as more people spend their lives online. At the moment, 7% of people forget their own birthdays from time to time. As £1.6 billion of damage was caused by lack of concentration last year, it also poses a real danger to us aware people going about our business. I've given up counting how many kids I've had to brake in front of as they step out into the road looking at their phone instead of the traffic.

And as I also pointed out, in future, the information you search for may just be information you've already connected to in other posts or links - i.e. tailored to your world view and not necessarily accurate.

Posted: 06-10-2013 10:56 Post subject:

Posted: 06-10-2013 11:15 Post subject:

Posted: 06-10-2013 16:26 Post subject:

i think the culture of "on-demand" programming is central to this - which originated with the constant broadcast programming and advertising across endless tv channels a few decades ago ...

Posted: 06-10-2013 20:10 Post subject:

Posted: 07-10-2013 14:38 Post subject:

Posted: 07-10-2013 14:50 Post subject:

We are told that looking at porn ruins the appetite for the real thing . . .

I see restaurants filled with nerds taking pictures of their food and leaving empty but feeling full. Profiterole-Aid may be called in to shift all those uneaten calories to less developed regions. gaga

Posted: 07-10-2013 15:07 Post subject:

And this is bad...How?

<Goes off to read fathers recipe book collection before tea>

Posted: 07-10-2013 15:10 Post subject:

Explains all the food-porn TV cooks series. People watch Jamie Oliver, the hairy bikers, or that shouty-sweary chap, on the job and are quite relieved to be just opening a tin of beans.