Innerlea Blog // digitalmind / index.html
digitalMind is an aggregation of links to articles concerning the possible ill effects that internet usage may have upon the mind. Most of these articles are a reaction to, or review of, Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows and some earlier articles he has written in a similar vein.

I have as yet to read the book, but from the articles it seems that he relies a good deal on the research of Patricia Greenfield, a research psychologist at UCLA. The study he cites, however, does not support well his conclusions, in my opinion. Other reviewers, a majority I think, have drawn similar conclusions while still praising Carr's writing and the part of his criticism that concerns the culture at large. Viewed in this way Carr's thesis and his reviewers comments can be read as a lament upon the death of literature, or of reading literature for pleasure, brought on by the internet particularly, but also in a broader sense, modern electronic media. The links most closely commenting on Carr's book are collected on the page entitled    The Shallows and Some Reviews.

This more generalized page consists mainly of other articles on the possible deleterious effects of the internet and computers published in the New York Times, most under the rubric YOUR BRAIN ON COMPUTERS in early June 2010, about the same time The Shallows was coming out. The first piece, by Kakutani, though dates from mid-March.

Texts Without Context By Michiko Kakutani
   from the New York Times Published: March 17, 2010

Kakutani begins by noting, but not reviewing, a book by David Shields called Reality Hunger that is constructed mostly from 618 fragments, or quotes, from various other more famous authors that demonstrates and thus expounds his thesis about the difficulties with the concept of copyright in these digital times, as well as expressing a sense of exhaustion about what can be and is done with the novel genre. Again we sense the meditation upon the death of literature and the novel in particular.
Kakutani then gives a glossing of a number of books with similar themes going back some ten or fifteen years perhaps. These I've separated out and combined with some other references in a page:

A List of references from Kakutani's article & another.

The articles in the New York Times series, YOUR BRAIN ON COMPUTERS, are given below.

Hooked on Gadgets... [ NYT 2010/06/07 MATT RICHTEL ] This is one of those human specimen stories, Kord Campbell, age 43, & family, a case study on the style and effects of multi-tasking; and an excellent example of the newly emerging digital lifestyle; its steady stream of short term tasks; the paradox of working at home and being yet more isolated from the family due to the always-on condition of our now personalized, internalized, notion of work; and the devices that support this new orientation. We long for a return to some degree of compartmentalization, of separation of family from work, even though in theory this has usually been assumed to be in itself alienating. Part of our selves is solipsistically cocoon-ed, while at the same time we are constantly in touch with others more important than those before us in the same room.
In 2008, people consumed three times as much information each day as they did in 1960...

In a test created by Mr. Ophir and his colleagues... multitaskers ... did a significantly worse job than the non-multitaskers...they had trouble filtering out ... irrelevant information... tended to search for new information rather than ... putting older, more valuable information to work... seem more sensitive than non-multitaskers to incoming information.

The problem here, of course, is the old issue of cause and association; namely does the more easily distractible personality choose to be more multitasking because it fits more closely his style of cognition.

... Parenting While Plugged In [NYT 2010/06/10 JULIE SCELFO ] There appears to be little solid research on this very important area as of yet. Probably, as in other areas of digital interaction, as these issues arise and are better understood solutions, both technological and otherwise, will be proposed.
In the meantime the author gives us:
Sherry Turkle, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Initiative on Technology and Self, has been studying how parental use of technology affects children and young adults...she has found that feelings of hurt, jealousy and competition are widespread... “Over and over, kids raised the same three examples of feeling hurt and not wanting to show it when their mom or dad would be on their devices instead of paying attention to them: at meals, during pickup after either school or an extracurricular activity, and during sports events.” ...

“It sort of comes back to quality time, and distracted time is not high-quality time...” said Frederick J. Zimmerman, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health ... He also noted that smartphones and laptops may enable some parents to spend more time at home, which may, in turn, result in more, rather than less, quality time overall.

There is little research on how parents’ constant use of such technology affects children, but experts say there is no question that engaged parenting — talking and explaining things to children, and responding to their questions — remains the bedrock of early childhood learning.

Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley’s landmark 1995 book, “Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children,” shows that parents who supply a language-rich environment for their children help them develop a wide vocabulary, and that helps them learn to read.

The book connects language use at home with socioeconomic status. ... children in higher socioeconomic homes hear an average of 2,153 words an hour, whereas those in working-class households hear only about 1,251; children in the study whose parents were on welfare heard an average of 616 words an hour.

An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness [ NYT 2010/06/07 TARA PARKER-POPE ] Actually there is little mention about impatience and forgetfulness but rather superficial talk of tests for internet addiction and such. However the writer does offer this tidbit that testifies to how our digital devices fill our needs to socialize and keep in touch with those important to us:
The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda at the University of Maryland asked 200 students to refrain from using electronic media for a day. The reports from students after the study suggest that giving up technology cold turkey not only makes life logistically difficult, but also changes our ability to connect with others.

“Texting and I.M.’ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort,” wrote one student. “When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable.”

... Americans Sense a Downside to ... Plugged-In Existence [ MARJORIE CONNELLY ]
While most Americans say devices like smartphones, cellphones and personal computers have made their lives better and their jobs easier, some say they have been intrusive, increased their levels of stress and made it difficult to concentrate, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.
In other words, not yet a big deal, according to the polls.

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