Strategically Communicating

In the Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, author Nicholas Carr makes it clear that our brain changes based on our experiences. We live in a digital world driven by instant gratification and convenience, seeking any way to simplify our needs and increase productivity.  Technological advances specifically over the last five years has really contributed to the way I use and depend on the internet. However, I’ve never considered how these tools were “imposing limitations even as it opens possibilities” (Carr, 2011, p. 209). Most recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the internet following the progress of high profiled news stories, including the Mike Brown vs. Darren Wilson case in Ferguson and most recently the Eric Gardner incident that took place in New York.

Having an increased and personal investment to stay informed on any updates or changes in the case, I realized that my patience and threshold to read lengthy articles has significantly decreased. After making it through the first paragraph, I would grow impatient and subconsciously begin to scan the article for key words for a few seconds before throwing in the towel and finding the accompanying video of the story.  If a video wasn’t available I would go to Instagram and Twitter in search of quick updates, that were direct and to the point. SNS’s satisfied my need but it raised a greater issue. When did I become wired to expect information quickly in short spurts of 140 characters or less?