Twitter, Internet…it’s not you it’s me – can I handle the commitment?
It’s been some time now since I was regularly on Twitter or Linked In – the two main social media networks I use. This is partly due to focussing on work and attempting to ignore the possible distractions of Twitter (primarily). But, I was surprised to notice that I have not missed it at all. In fact, I’ve struggled to get back into the routine of making space for a an hour or so of tracking ideas, information and swapping Tweets. Indeed, I haven’t written a blog since early June. Now, I love writing, swapping ideas and engaging in conversation and so Twitter ticks all the boxes. I try and make my Tweets relevant and/or entertaining just as I would in face-to-face conversation; so what is it about it that it is falling to draw me back into regular online interaction?
At first I thought it was down to my time management. Then I read an interesting article in Prospect magazine; a review by Evgeny Morozovof The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains, by Nicholas Carr. The piece goes into all sorts of interesting ideas about the dangers of web and social media, but the bit that grabbed me was Carr’s argument that apparently use of the Internet re-wires our brains – experiments at UCLA have shown that inactive, or dormant parts of people’s brains come to life.
This is due to modern media strengthening neural pathways in our brains while weakening older ones. Other things are more predictable – we’re skim reading, multi-tasking and being less productive (hold that thought) and that because the Internet has a strong tendency to scatter our attention we might not be thinking as deeply about things as we should.
This is worth exploring further. Studies into the ‘knowledge economy’ show that there is an increase in jobs/roles that cannot be replaced by computers and that demand human thinking not constrained by rules and programming – i.e. we need to think deeply about stuff and we need less distraction. But the Internet is a tool, or at least should be, in reality it is as Morozov says, “more like a new dimension in public life.”
I actually feel better informed now by using the web, than say five, ten years ago when I relied upon BBC Radio 4 (still brilliant though), The Guardian and TV news. Having said that, I still turn to the sources of information that I feel comfortable with, that reassures me – i.e. gives me what I want to hear. And so does everyone else – so when critics complain about the level of information we have to deal with people still sieve through it the same way as they did before – i.e. Daily Mail readers will access the web sites that reassure them the Mail is on the right track, just as I visit sources of information that confirm that what I see in The Guardian or hear on R4 is right to my ears. The argument against the Internet and social media is that it is ‘shallow’.
But isn’t it better for people who are accessing information and educating themselves via the Internet to have a broader, shallower knowledge that they can build upon, than none at all? Morozov makes the point that the world’s poor can really benefit from an Internet that makes them shallow.
So, what about me? I don’t want to be shallow; I cannot make time for four, five hours a day on social media. in fact, I don’t want to. It’s about finding the right balance and makiing a commitment. There is that big word that men struggle with – maybe that is the problem. It’s not the Internet, it’s me that’s the problem.
Tags: commitment, Evgeny Morozov, Internet, knowledge economy, Nicholas Carr, twitter
Interesting read, thanks! I finally see the larger picture