Tomorrow I am meeting with Kimberly Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President and Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke University and will have the second part of my Innovation Leaders Series up shortly!
Freshman year of college I found myself having an extremely difficult time trying to focus on long reading assignments- often spending 20 minutes scrolling my Twitter feed before realizing that I was no longer doing my homework. Many of my friends had similar issues, blaming A.D.D. (attention deficit disorder), as if we all suddenly had a medical issue that was causing us to divert from our studies. Whenever I mentioned my focusing problems to my mom she blamed social media, arguing that I had become so comfortable darting around the Internet that it was now difficult for me to sit back and focus on one thing. Three years later I believe that this is definitely the case, which made Nicholas Carr's The Shallows even more interesting. When blaming social media for my reduced attention span, I believe there are other factors that must be taken into consideration. Carr wrote a famous article in The Atlantic titled "Google is Making Us Dumber," in which he argues that because we are able to find information so quickly and easily, we have grown to expect everything to be instantly accessible. I believe that this relates to my thoughts on social media. For example, if I am curious about what is going on amongst my friends, I simply spend a few minutes scrolling through my Facebook Newsfeed or Twitter feed. Here, within a few minutes, I can find a satisfying amount of information on a large group of people (with little to no effort). If I want to research the life of Jack Dorsey I can run a simple Google search and have basic facts in seconds. In Carr's opinion, this is why I see it as tedious to read long books. For example, I was absolutely itching to get Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs the second that it went on pre-order. I have now had the book for four months and am still having difficulties getting past the second chapter, despite my excitement for the subject matter. This presents an interesting point- even if I have an interest in the subject matter I am likely to still have difficulty reading a long piece of work. Since reading The Shallows, I have again begun Steve Jobs and am going to chronicle my reading efforts in comparison to Nicholas Carr's behavioral predictions (I will have a post about my successes/failures in the next few weeks). While Carr cited many scientific sources throughout his book, I found the overall implications to be most useful. I found that I could easily apply them to my personal life as well as what I am studying in school. For example, I am an advertising major and we are required to take classes that detail this history of advertising techniques and mediums. These courses are fascinating, but the way that new media is approached in them is particularly interesting. For example, we will learn about "traditional" advertising techniques such as longer TV spots and print ads, but social media and new media techniques are usually taught in an entirely separate way. These courses reinforce the lessons in Carr's book by teaching us to make the TV spots shorter (and perhaps put them on YouTube instead of cable) and make body copy less complex (shorter sentences that keep the viewer's attention). The courses also emphasize the need for something to go viral, for an element of the campaign to gain traction on social media sites and to develop an online presence. It is no longer enough to rely on traditional advertising- that won't interest the modern consumer enough. I think that this infographic speaks volumes to what I am trying to explain (I also need to insert another form of media so that I keep your attention.. if you're still reading) As for the scientific side of things, this video touches on the impact that the Internet has on our neural circuitry and the evolution of our brain's functionality. It is less than five minutes long and provides a great overview of Carr's views. I highly recommend this book, especially if you have found your reading capabilities impacted by heavy internet usage. The next book that I plan on reading is Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, which goes along with my current independent study on the crossroads of the Internet, entrepreneurship and innovation. Tomorrow I am meeting with Kimberly Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President and Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke University and will have the second part of my Innovation Leaders Series up shortly!
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Started restructuring this site on 12/24/2011 by adding this page. It will mainly consist of technology ramble and things that you probably won't read.
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