ANOTHER QUOTE

Page 118  “…the Net seizes our attention only to scatter it.”

Initially I guess you can say I fell right into Carr’s trap. I literally did everything he said I would do. I skimmed, I was distracted, checking twitter after every 10 pages I read as an incentive to keep reading. Yes, I reward myself with social networking sites, judge me. But in the midst of all of this distraction, this phrase caught my attention. I liked the way it was written, the choice of words. It was the same idea Carr had been shoving down our throats for 118 pages but I really liked it. I liked the simplicity of it.

Reading this quote in class yesterday, I felt a little differently. Suddenly the quote seemed ironic. I saw the play on words at work and our discussion in class helped to further develop that idea. From a literary perspective it became much more alluring.

I really like the irony in this quote. “The Net seizes our attention only to scatter it.” It’s like it lures us in but it doesn’t. It gives the impression that we’ll learn more but we really don’t. It makes us think we have the ability to handle multiple tasks at the same time and perform them with the same efficiency that we would if we were confronted with just one task, but we really can’t And I agree with the quote and all the things it implies, but to what extent is this true?

Nomi brought up and interesting point yesterday with the 80-20 theory. Even though we may be procrastinating for 80% of the time, we might be engaged in deep attention and reading the other 20% of the time. She said yes, we can be distracted but that’s because we have more things available to allow us to be distracted. But if she has to buckle down, and exile herself in the library for a day to get her studying done, she can do so as well.

All of this is completely true. Over my academic career I realize that it becomes harder and harder not only to start an assignment, but also to focus on it and finish it in one sitting. Procrastination, extended deadline, laziness, and sleep deprivation all contribute to distraction the Internet creates. But when I have a midterm, you better believe I’ll do anything and everything to minimize or eliminate any kind of distraction to enhance my studying experience. I turn off my phone, climb up to dresser, and hide it in a pot (true story). I turn on the Self Control program on my laptop, block all the websites that could potentially distract me, and setup the timer for 2-3 hours, depending on how productive I’m feeling. And for those 2-3 hours I’m on fire. Getting into the rhythm of studying is always difficult, I’m tempted to stare at my nails or my colorful bed and all the pictures hanging up on my wall but sooner than later I’m immersed in the subject at hand. I’m reading, learning, engaging, and understanding all the material.  Does this happen only because I’ve taken such extreme measures to isolate myself and eliminate all forms of distraction? I’m afraid it is… Unless I have printed, highlighted, tactile study guides with no need for a compute, I cannot concentrate. Perhaps my self control just sucks, (probably does) but the time it takes me to study increases exponentially. A 15 minute break turns into an hour long hiatus of nothingness. Refreshing my twitter feed every 3 tweets, and re-stalking all my friends because I miss them and have nothing better to do but relive our memories via tagged pictures on Facebook.

SO WHERE AM I GOING WITH THIS. I actually don’t really know. But I find it fascinating how distracting the Internet is. How the easier the access to the Internet becomes, our attention spans literally just spiral down the drain and leave us feeling unproductive, overwhelmed and probably a little nutty (I’m speaking for myself here but it seems as though I can generalize) I also think it’s interesting that we’re distracted by choice. Like Nomi and I stated, if we really want to, we can focus on what we want to do. Even though I have to take extreme measures to do so, I do it. so how much of this distraction is our own fault? I’m going to say a lot of it is… Just like there are infinite ways in which the Internet can distract us, there are also infinite ways to prevent it from distracting us. This is all just me trying to sort out my ideas, hopefully I can make up my mind sometime soon and choose something a little more specific to this topic. But for now, this is all I have.