Pew Research: 'Web 2.0' Crowd A Small Minority by Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land (May 7)
Summarizes the recent study by Pew Internet and American Life Project on the use of "modern information gadgetry".
Which are you?
At PEW - Technology and Media Use (May 6)
Postscript: Test yourself with the Pew / Internet quiz - "Answer a few questions to see where you fit in the new typology of information and
communication technology users developed by the Pew Internet Project."http://www.pewinternet.org/quiz/
And since we are on the subject of information overload, the Walrus Magazine has a terrific article in the April issue - Driven to Distraction by John Lorinc.
Are you packing a crate of electronic devices and also feeling tired and overwhelmed. There could be a connection.
"Even before this all-in-one technology makes its grand debut, we are revelling in the miracle of nearly ubiquitous connectivity. But all this access has not come without a psychological cost that is ultimately rooted in the way our brains function. If we now find ourselves adrift in an ocean of information, our mental state increasingly resembles the slivered surface of a melting glacier. As the dozens of studies at interruptions.net attest, we have created a technological miasma that inundates us with an inexhaustible supply of electronic distractions. Rather than providing necessary interruptions to assist us in focusing on the incomplete task at hand, as Zeigarnik proposed, the deluge of multi-channel signals has produced an array of concentration-related problems, including lost productivity, cognitive overload, and a wearying diminishment in our ability to retain the very information we consume with such voraciousness. It may be that our hyper-connected world has quite simply made it difficult for us to think."
Posted by Gwen at May 8, 2007 01:07 AM