Nicholas Carr says we are currently living between two technologically different worlds. In the 1950’s we started a transition from the dominant media being words on a page to the dominant media being computer screens. He says this lifestyle change from paper media to computer media has changed the way our minds are wired. This hypothesis is not revolutionary. A human’s greatest tool is our mind and it is constantly changing. Our mind gives us the ability to rationalize, learn, love and react to our environment. Most importantly our mind allows us to adapt and change.
The changes that Carr attributes to the internet do not take place in isolation. Other factors need to be considered before concluding that minds are fundamentally different because of a change in technology. I need to know how the human mind changes when it is learning, growing or aging. In this new world that Carr describes we are using our minds differently, but the effect of this change is still unknown.
Do you plan to keep your internet lifestyle constant? Or do you see it changing as your life changes?
Do you use your brain more or less because of computers and the internet?
Strategically Communicating 
I struggle mightily with the phenomenon of information overload in the Digital Age. Simply put, I suffer from a certain level of internet/media addiction, which often has an adverse effect on my ability to focus my intellectual energy for long periods of time on one subject or task.
So to answer your question, I see the internet as having a substantial impact on my lifestyle, and as I become increasingly more aware of the negative consequences of consuming too much of the internet’s bounty of information and knowledge, I feel more inclined to curb my usage for the sake of maximizing my productivity as a media producer as well as for the sake of improving my personal relationships in the “real” world.
By: coolethan77 on November 12, 2012
at 6:55 pm