With all the text messaging, twitter feeds, emails and online information (news, discussion groups, blogs…) we read on a daily basis, are we are impacting our ability to think clearly and intelligently? I know that on many occasions I’ve felt overwhelmed and discombobulated by the never ending technological input that is quite literally feeding (off) my brain. For instance, the CEET Meet I participated in was particularly demanding for a novice Twitter user; I felt that I was lost in a sea of technology, and that everyone else seemed to know exactly what was going on. According to Csíkszentmihályi (1997), I had lost my “state of flow”, such that the challenge exceeded my skill level (from Csíkszentmihályi map of different mental states).
Having recently viewed the YouTube video, Information Overload, I am not completely surprised by the by the grave facts and figures about the overuse of technology in our society. Do we really spend half of our year and twelve hours a day consuming information? The unfortunate aspect of this overload is our brain only takes in 10% of it, and while we are eating-up this not quite nutritious information (text messages, Twitter feeds, Facebook…), our brains are at risk of becoming re-wired, and we are less able to sustain attention.
In an article I mentioned in our class discussion posts, one study found that multi-tasking is a misnomer, it is actually task-switching, as our brain is able to attend to one cognitive task at a time. An analogy to this was posed in which the author states that “…while all of us celebrate our ability to multitask, it’s really ‘serial’ tasking that we’re doing. In effect, we’re requiring our brain to act like a teenager learning to drive a five-speed: We’re shifting gears quickly and abruptly, and slamming on the brakes in the process. As it sounds, this is not always the best way to get from point A to point B.” Task-switching hinders our level of productivity (by 40%), as we spend more time “switching” from one activity to another, rather than staying focused on one task. When we constantly switch task (multi-task) or over-consume technology (watch TV, read email and text…), we are essentially obstructing our ability to listen and focus. The question is whether all of this technology is helping or hindering our lives.
Having recently viewed the YouTube video, Information Overload, I am not completely surprised by the by the grave facts and figures about the overuse of technology in our society. Do we really spend half of our year and twelve hours a day consuming information? The unfortunate aspect of this overload is our brain only takes in 10% of it, and while we are eating-up this not quite nutritious information (text messages, Twitter feeds, Facebook…), our brains are at risk of becoming re-wired, and we are less able to sustain attention.
In an article I mentioned in our class discussion posts, one study found that multi-tasking is a misnomer, it is actually task-switching, as our brain is able to attend to one cognitive task at a time. An analogy to this was posed in which the author states that “…while all of us celebrate our ability to multitask, it’s really ‘serial’ tasking that we’re doing. In effect, we’re requiring our brain to act like a teenager learning to drive a five-speed: We’re shifting gears quickly and abruptly, and slamming on the brakes in the process. As it sounds, this is not always the best way to get from point A to point B.” Task-switching hinders our level of productivity (by 40%), as we spend more time “switching” from one activity to another, rather than staying focused on one task. When we constantly switch task (multi-task) or over-consume technology (watch TV, read email and text…), we are essentially obstructing our ability to listen and focus. The question is whether all of this technology is helping or hindering our lives.