In Chapter 5, Carr talks about how previously, before the computer and internet, technologies progress down different paths. Paper media was restricted to using mostly word, TV's mostly images, and radios mostly sound. Now, with the computer and internet, all of these medias are progressing and beginning to merge together. You can find an "Official Website" for almost any newspaper, TV Channel or show, or radio station. All of these medias not only have websites giving information, but they broadcast their shows (whether it is music or an episode of The Office, for example) and the news publishes print, video, and picture news through their websites.
How does this make you feel? Do you feel as if this is detrimental to us in that our brains need information and instant gratification? Or, do you feel this is just another normal part of the pattern of new technologies that has dated back thousands of years? Does it make us any less intelligent and unable to grasp information in depth?
I think that this analysis is a very interesting point and goes along with Castell's (if I recall correctly) concept of technological convergence. I never really thought about the fact that technologies were really limited to one form of expression in the way that Carr describes before. Since the internet has TV content, videos, written articles, and other things that would normally be limited to the medias Carr names, I believe that this indicates that this has to be considered separate from the normal pattern of technological growth and development. Because this is the first time that a new media has allowed all these different technologies, opinions, and ideas to come together, the internet has to be thought as separate body from the pattern that Carr describes older technologies as being a part of.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel as if this convergence is just a normal part of the pattern, and should have been an expected result. While I cannot say all do, most people tend to prefer doing/getting things sooner rather than later, especially if it is something that they want. As I see it, the need for instant gratification is not something new, and instead has always been around. However, instant gratification has only recently become possible, and I believe that is why it has suddenly appeared in the spotlight. Before, instant gratification was not possible, and as such was not an issue and was primarily ignored. Now that it is possible, it tends to receive much more attention. Thus, I don't think the need for instant gratification is a new thing, but rather something that is only now being focused on due to the recent possibility of it.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the information we could ever need right at the click of a button, or mouse, is a little much. Although it is nothing new. This type of cognitive stimulus has been happening for a few years now. I feel that many need to have instant mental gratification and their information fed to them, unlike it was in past years, as Carr stated in his book. But this was bound to happen, I think, that with the constant introduction of new technologies and news sources/ outlets it was only a matter of time before people became how they are today- in regards to the internet. Throughout the years, little by little, many have evolved into becoming dependant on the internet and the information that is easily provided. I think that with all the information out there, and many of it presented in fragments, that it helps people to access it faster. Though, this does not necessarily mean that it makes one less intelligent, or less capable of grasping the information in depth. I feel that if the information was given in-depth, that many would understand it in-depth and fully grasp everything.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though all of this talk about being scatterbrained is really just a product of being able to handle more input than before. We might not see it that way now however. Change for many is a frightening concept so it isnt hard to figure out why such a negative [not meaning bad] has become popular. It could possibly be that we're just bored and innately somehow understand that we can handle more but conciously arent sure yet what to do with this new ability or how to handle it.
ReplyDeleteConvergence is a really interesting topic to me, because it seems to be a really drastic and up and coming theme in our society. I find it especially interesting how it has such prominence but influences our lives in a very behind the scenes way. Throughout chapter 5 as Carr was depicting and pointing out all of the ways the convergence and the introduction of the internet in all aspects of our lives I realized how big of an impact this technological innovation has had in my life and on the lives of those around. I take for granted how big a presence the internet and technologies are in my life and how I depend on them in almost every task I approach in my day. I find it a little dis-heartening to read that so many different newspapers and other print media corporations are disappearing, but I also feel that this comes along with progression and development of societies. People and their surroundings are constantly evolving and corporations and organizations need to adapt to these changes or they will become obsolete. This reminds me very much of the "survival of the fittest" theory, if it could in fact be applied to technologies.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think convergence is a negative process at all. It seems like it has been the natural course for technology over the past few years. It is just another way for technology to increase our efficiency and capacity to do more, read more, learn more, and share more, all from within the comfort of our own home. From an American perspective more is better, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteNegative attitudes held today towards technological convergence via the internet can be equated to the negative attitudes of printed media when it first became popular, and today printed media is generally held in high, intellectual esteem. In fact, the linear, complex thought process that Carr seems to admire isn't actually a natural human state of mind either; it is a state created by the technology of printed press. Carr even goes so far as to state that the natural human state of mind is one that is distracted, so it would seem that technological convergence allows humans to digest and handle information in a way that is more natural to their basic neural framework. While convergence may mean the slight degradation of the linear thought process, it could also be the key to a different kind of thought process that could be even better.