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The Attention Economy

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Over the years the internet has become a major element in the world. It has been integrated into every aspect of today’s society: becoming part of our social life, education system and everyday routines, such as online shopping or booking tickets. It is responsible for the vast networking and connecting of the world. The world has become a smaller place, where it is possible to be in one country while talking and seeing another person in a different continent. The advances and conveniences the internet has created is on one level an incredible advantage to society, however on another level there are many subtle pitfalls that have been created with the advancing of technology and easy access of the internet. In the following essay the …show more content…

On an academic level, compared with a library, the internet is faster, easier to use and a whole lot more convenient. One no longer has to queue to find a book, only to discover that the book has already been taken out. The internet is there at ones disposal offering all the information the library can as well as more. This is however the irony. The internet offers such a vast amount of information that one needs to actually question how much of a good thing this is. There are different ways this can be categorized. When a subject matter is researched on Google, thousands of related sites are displayed, each containing masses of information. “Internet now offers the capability to find everything man has created and put on the network, and to get limited access to a huge amount of information resources.”[Krupa 2008] Having too much information can become a problem. For most people having all this information on one particular subject matter can become distracting. Bryan Appleyard discusses distraction in his article “Stoooopid....why the Google generation isn’t as smart as it thinks.” Saying “Attention is the golden key to the mystery of human consciousness”(2008). With too much information it is easy to become confused but more distressing is the fact that one is not absorbing all that is being read. There is no longer time to stop, think about and question the information. (Carr, 2008)

On the one hand it is so helpful to use the internet to get a brief

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