Here in the Pygmy Forest

[Perknose]

When I first encountered pinheads here demanding cliffs for any post longer than four sentences, I was apalled. "How effing lazy is that?", I thought. Now, it appears that many of our younger posters here, more or less raised on the net, actually CAN'T hang in longer than that.

Nicholas Carr sounded a similar note in ?Is Google Making Us Stupid?? in the current issue of the Atlantic magazine. Warning that the Web was changing the way he ? and others ? think, he suggested that the effects of Internet reading extended beyond the falling test scores of adolescence. ?What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,? he wrote, confessing that he now found it difficult to read long books.

I've come to realize that this has had its effect on me, too. I read fewer novels than I ever did.

On the one hand, I will be the first to admit that I have LEARNED things here on ATOT. Yes, I have gained knowledge from ATOT. But the lack of critical thinking skills of many of the posters here -- by many measures among the elite of their demographic groups -- has often left me deeply saddened.

Web readers are persistently weak at judging whether information is trustworthy. In one study, Donald J. Leu, who researches literacy and technology at the University of Connecticut, asked 48 students to look at a spoof Web site (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/) about a mythical species known as the ?Pacific Northwest tree octopus.? Nearly 90 percent of them missed the joke and deemed the site a reliable source.

We are the product of nature and nurture. It is inescapable that what we do affects us, even on an organic, neurological level.

It's a Brave New World out there.

Neurological studies show that learning to read changes the brain?s circuitry. Scientists speculate that reading on the Internet may also affect the brain?s hard wiring in a way that is different from book reading.

?The question is, does it change your brain in some beneficial way?? said Guinevere F. Eden, director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University. ?The brain is malleable and adapts to its environment. Whatever the pressures are on us to succeed, our brain will try and deal with it.?

Some scientists worry that the fractured experience typical of the Internet could rob developing readers of crucial skills. ?Reading a book, and taking the time to ruminate and make inferences and engage the imaginational processing, is more cognitively enriching, without doubt, than the short little bits that you might get if you?re into the 30-second digital mode,? said Ken Pugh, a cognitive neuroscientist at Yale who has studied brain scans of children reading.

Cliffs: If you rely on cliffs all your life, you WILL be that shallow.

 

[Heller]

yeah im not gonna read that but i'd like to take a hit of whatever your smoking over there.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Heller
yeah im not gonna read that but i'd like to take a hit of whatever your smoking over there.

^^^ Self-identified case in point. A three second attention span twerp who's perversely proud of that sad fact.

You can't get dumber than that. It's baked right in! :thumbsup:

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: Heller
yeah im not gonna read that but i'd like to take a hit of whatever your smoking over there.

Lol perfect first response.

The internet has definitely made me dumber. I like what you said about knowledge gained. I've learned many facts from the internet, but I think my ability to think critically, for sustained periods of time, has gotten weaker as a result of the time I choose to spend surfing around reading quick articles, message boards, etc.

My writing skills have also suffered, though I also attribute that to lack of practice since I haven't been in school for a while.

 

[Pocatello]

You don't expect people to read all of that crap do you?

 

[DangerAardvark]

I demand to know more about this tree octopus.

 

[Cyco]

LOL wut?

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Pocatello
You don't expect people to read all of that crap do you?

Sadly, no. I now realize you are most likely neurologically unable.

Save the tree octopus!

 

[chusteczka]

Look, a butterfly. <runs off>

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: chusteczka
Look, a butterfly. <runs off>

To which I can only add . . .

Wait, there another one! <runs off in opposite direction>

 

[seemingly random]

In amongst all of those words might be a story about a girlfriend who likes to pee in bags and on computer chairs. She may or may not do it in her sleep.


Interested now?

 

[chusteczka]

The last few years I have been joking that I have forgotten how to read. This involves actually sitting in one place for an hour or more reading a single book for enjoyment that is not work related. I had thought it was because of school or the need to continue my education after school in an area that will further my work experience.

I have noticed my enjoyment of the random small topics available on the internet and how I can sometimes sit for a whole day reading little tidbits of random things. At the end of the day, I am left wondering what I have accomplished.

Only these last couple months have I actually started reading books again since my new job is now downtown and I sit on the train for 50 minutes with nothing to do other than gaze out the window or read something.

I have a difficult time reading a book when I am home, close to the computer.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: chusteczkaI have a difficult time reading a book when I am home, close to the computer.

Me, too. This is scary sad, to think all my time on the web may have significantly shortened my attention span and may well have also degraded my capacity for "concentration and contemplation", ie, my ability to engage, comprehend and synthesize anything longer than 2-3 web pages.

And THEN, I think of all the posters here who have never fully developed these abilities in the first place, and I wish to weep for the future of our Republic.

The inadvertant idiot self-ownage of posters like Heller, Pocatello and Cyco here is simply brutal confirmation of my OP. They don't even get it. Soon, I fear, the short bus will be the long bus, and vice-versa. 🙁

 

[ElFenix]

i have the attention span of a gnat

🙁

 

[bobsmith1492]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: chusteczkaI have a difficult time reading a book when I am home, close to the computer.

Me, too. This is scary sad, to think all my time on the web may have significantly shortened my attention span and may well have also degraded my capacity for "concentration and contemplation", ie, my ability to engage, comprehend and synthesize anything longer than 2-3 web pages.

And THEN, I think of all the posters here who have never fully developed these abilities in the first place, and I wish to weep for the future of our Republic.

The inadvertant idiot self-ownage of posters like Heller, Pocatello and Cyco here is simply brutal confirmation of my OP. They don't even get it. Soon, I fear, the short bus will be the long bus, and vice-versa. 🙁

The best two weeks I've had in my new apartment occurred before my cable internet connect was hooked up... I read some 3 books those weeks, did the dishes every day, and so on, so forth. Now... yikes. I think it's time to give myself a timer for web browsing.

 

[MotF Bane]

The only better first reply would've been tl;dr.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Interesting topic. I have to will myself not to just scan text when reading a novel sometimes. I've now become accustomed to just trying to pick out bullet points while reading posts, to the point where it is habitual. There is obviously little enjoyment derived from that type of reading.

What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation

I have noticed both improve as my time online continues to dwindle.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: chusteczkaI have a difficult time reading a book when I am home, close to the computer.

Me, too. This is scary sad, to think all my time on the web may have significantly shortened my attention span and may well have also degraded my capacity for "concentration and contemplation", ie, my ability to engage, comprehend and synthesize anything longer than 2-3 web pages.

And THEN, I think of all the posters here who have never fully developed these abilities in the first place, and I wish to weep for the future of our Republic.

The inadvertant idiot self-ownage of posters like Heller, Pocatello and Cyco here is simply brutal confirmation of my OP. They don't even get it. Soon, I fear, the short bus will be the long bus, and vice-versa. 🙁

I'd be willing to bet two of those three posts were sarcasm. Responding to your post in a manner that doesn't join into the intellectual circle-jerk you're trying to start doesn't automatically mean the respondent is mentally deficient.

I agree with your assertions that time spent online isn't conducive for building mental fortitude. You've been around the ATOT block enough to know that 80% of the responses you get to any post will be 90% nonsense, but I wouldn't presume to know anything about the poster behind the spam. Except, perhaps, they don't have anything more useful, more on-topic to say and let's be realistic - some of the people here are here while they're at their day job and treat OT like a scrolling, evolving comic. They alt-tab out of Outlook long enough to post a :thumbsup: or a "FAIL." but I contend you take things entirely to far when you assume that's what makes it into their next email to colleagues.

 

[TridenT]

Uhh... You all must be weird because my attention span has never fluctuated at all from the internet. Maybe I am special and uniquely superior. 🙂

I think it's bullshit. The only reason I do not pay attention to something is because it is not interesting to me at the moment. It's like me(atheist) reading The Bible. I do not really want to read it just because I do not like it. It's not a matter of me having bad concentration on a book or something, it's just that I dislike what I am reading and WANT to stop. It's not that I need to or can't keep going.. But it's just painful to read through something and go, and people really believe this as fact.

Maybe you all NEED to stop or something but I never feel that way except when I am tired. The internet has never affected my reading skills in a negative way.

Also, if anything the more internet you consume, the more skeptical you should become. Right? I mean come on, so much bullshit is on this place.. It's hard to not realize what a non-factual website is like. We've seen so much BS on this place, you'd think the more internet savvy you are... The more likely you'll disbelieve something. :-/ Of course many people don't have critical thinking skills to begin with usually. (Creationists, IDers)

EDIT: Agree with the above poster about how the people behind the FAILs and such are not always morons. A lot of them are just having their fun while doing some work or just kicking back and relaxing with a good old, "FAIL!". It isn't like those people are so stupid all they know how to post is, "FAIL! LALS i CNT SPEL LAWL." I only do that kind of stuff in mockery usually... hehe.

 

[nakedfrog]

Come on, look at how many people have read the Better Nate Than Lever story... that's a solid novella right there, isn't it? I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the heart of this issue is really ooooh shiny!

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: Heller
yeah im not gonna read that but i'd like to take a hit of whatever your smoking over there.

^^^ Self-identified case in point. A three second attention span twerp who's perversely proud of that sad fact.

You can't get dumber than that. It's baked right in! :thumbsup:

Well there is the OP in this thread....so I think your last statement is false.

 

[TecHNooB]

Cliffs for Cliffs?

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Cliffs for Cliffs?

He's calling you an idiot.

It may or may not be the case.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Come on, look at how many people have read the Better Nate Than Lever story... that's a solid novella right there, isn't it? I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the heart of this issue is really ooooh shiny!

I read it, cover to... erm... cover. :thumbsup:

 

[fishjie]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555I think it's bullshit. The only reason I do not pay attention to something is because it is not interesting to me at the moment. It's like me(atheist) reading The Bible. I do not really want to read it just because I do not like it. It's not a matter of me having bad concentration on a book or something, it's just that I dislike what I am reading and WANT to stop. It's not that I need to or can't keep going.. But it's just painful to read through something and go, and people really believe this as fact.
[/b]

completely off topic:
the bible is an action packed book filled with genocide, gang rapes, more gang rapes, more genocide, incest, rape (one on one, non gang variety), more incest, dismembered corpses, and so on. just skip the boring stuff and cut straight to the action. judges is probably the most entertaining.