Can I Have Your Attention?
Could our rapidly changing “online” culture be changing our
brains? Studies have shown that the way we produce and translate geographical
knowledge is changing, and some would say for the worse.
New neurological research has uncovered that the way the
human brain collects information is able to be rewired. It’s been found that “our
brains are flexible and can be modified at the cellular level depending on
exposure and usage,” changing the way we learn and focus on information (Schuurman,
2).
Compared to the past when neurological patterns supported
the deep concentration needed to read long scientific articles and scan books,
our culture is now favoring short, scattered methods of receiving information
that is characteristic of online browsing. The type of reading done online has
the tendency to have nonlinear patterns and focuses on keywords versus the
article as a whole. Because of our constant access to the web’s boundless
information, we under stimulate long-term memory, making our ability to use old
knowledge to create new knowledge weak. It has become a cycle of constant scanning but
little real focus, described as “continuous partial attention” (2).
But what does this mean for geographers? There are several
negative effects of this type of learning has on the human brain and how we
process information. Essentially, we are losing our ability to focus.
Distractions are endless in our online culture, and each time we are
distracted, it takes us ten to twenty times longer to recover. We are being
overloaded with information, which lowers our ability to make rational
decisions, stemming from our loss of critical thinking. The constant barrage of
information websites, email, and news sources afflict on the average American is
taking its toll on our minds. It’s keeping our brains from the “downtime”
needed for our unconscious brain to help make decisions. This is a problem for
geographers because “It makes learning less geographically specific and more homogeneous
across space” (4).
The way information is being presented affects our ability
to learn as well. Scholarly article websites have started using crowdsourcing,
or relying on views and promotion to make an article front-page and valid. This
encourages passivity in choosing the right article for your task, taking the “search”
element out of searching for information. The layout of PLOS One’s article is a
novel example, listing page views and allowing for comments, what some would
say are distractors from the article itself.
This shows a movement toward simplification of content
versus the advancement of the content itself, a trend that affects geographers
and Americans alike. Sharing information has become a phenomenon that focuses
on presentation versus content.
How we evolve to learn and grow academically will affect the
field of geography in unprecedented ways. Let us hope that this is a change
that will ultimately be for the better, as more people are able to access the abundance
of information that can be found in such a diverse field.
Nadine Schuurman (2012): Tweet Me Your Talk: Geographical
Learning and Knowledge Production 2.0, The Professional Geographer,
DOI:10.1080/00330124.2012.693873
Many people do simply look at comments on an article rather than the article itself and it can be distracting to those who simply try and read the article but are bombarded with countless distractions. I have experienced this when I try and read an article and I happen across a few comments that begin to sway my opinion on the topic making the article less valid. This is why many times it can be easier to simply go to an actual book in the library than a database. I also think that scholarly journals shouldn't be able to take comments from ordinary readers. Only the best should be able to comment on such literature.
ReplyDeleteThis blog raises many valid points that seem not to be talked about within society. While our new advancements in technology such as the internet are great, at the same time it seems to be hindering humans from using their full capabilities such as day to day practice in strengthening their long-term memory. The internet has allowed us to become more "lazy and dependent" on it as to going out into the world and learning things on our own.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post! I've noticed this in my experience, after researching and quickly scanning an article, realizing I have not retained anything afterward. I've also noticed that including pictures in articles helps maintain my focus, which is interesting relating to the "onine culture," as many popular news sites are full of graphic material, such as colorful pictures, ads, or a picture of other popular articles a long the side, that makes you feel like you're making the decisions, but really are just looking at what everyone else is looking at. I wonder what this means in the long run for academia. Will our generation simply write more concise articles, or will the over all quality of information produced be so much lower due to a lower attention span?
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think one must be careful in judging the online culture too harshly. Obviously there will be changes in the way people think and learn, but that is the way humanity works! I'm sure there were similar critiques when television first came out, or even radio. We are an adaptive species and sometimes I think nostalgia for the way things used to work sometimes obscures all of the wonders current technology has created.