The Exchange Of Information Has Taken On Many Forms Throughout Human History

In “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” Richard Restak considers the effect of technology on our brains. As we process increasing amounts of information at ever-faster speeds, Restak argues that our brains are undergoing “profound alterations” in order to adapt to the changing needs of our modern world. As technology connects us to more people, places, and information than ever before, Restak warns that we are losing important cognitive functions, in particular our ability to focus and concentrate. However Restak fails to mention that technology has created significant affordances as well. Allowing society to advance as a whole, via social media, e-mail, cell phones, and other various communications. Technology is reshaping our habits of mind.Yes technology created a slight defect to the mind but many advantages came about using technology as an asset.

In present day society, individuals dedicate their time to social media on the internet and electronics, towards updating statuses, rebloging pictures, favoriting videos, reading up on current events, and staying connected in general. It’s only been 25 years since Tim Burners-Lee invented the world wide web and it’s no secret that it is one of the most progressive and influential invention of our time. Dave Eggers, in his current book The Circle, foretells his version of what can happen with the growth of technology and social media and pushes our current standard of being virtually connected from the main social networks Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Tumblr. In

Electronic communication plays vast roles in the way individuals communicate in today’s society, this has created a significant change to the quality of interpersonal

Matt Richtel, another journalist agrees that focusing has become harder with the increase in the use of technology. He suggests the reason is because of how we obtain the information. “Scientists say juggling email, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say out ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information. These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate

Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid? explains the impact the Internet is having on his (and others) patience with in depth reading habits, and possibly the way their brain is processing information. The old days of having to spend hours researching a subject are long gone because of the Internet. Having such a powerful tool available at any time can be a good and bad thing wrapped up in the same package. Over the last couple decades, home computer and smartphone ownership has been on a steady rise with most homes now having multiple devices. Therefore, having unlimited information available at all times has become a reality.

In her call to action, The People’s Platform; Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Astra Taylor addresses underlying social and economic forces of the internet and differential perspectives towards it. Taylor discusses the new internet in which content is king and, people are now the product, this is called Web 2.0. She discusses this topic from a couple viewpoints; those who would believe that the internet is truly the new people’s platform and that it is the golden age of sharing and collaboration, called the Techno-optimists. The counterparts of this interpretation of the internet are what she calls the Techno-Skeptics, who have a similar mindset in that of Nicholas Carr, an author about technology in the modern age, with the

​Communication has often been defined by scholar as the process by which people send messages and generate meanings across various contexts, cultures, and media. The process of communicating does not stop; it occurs cycle after cycle. Whether through verbal or non-verbal messages, the transaction takes place and is inevitable, named by scholars as The Principle of Communication Inevitability. Recognizing that communication will exist, whether intentional or not, it is important to understand the various areas of our life where communication may be vital to the success of the structure. One important area is focused on human

Many people argue that technology has made information from printed sources more available. “We can all come together immediately, live, in words or pictures, thanks to the power of cell phones, computers, televisions, and cameras. The way we socialize, learn, plan, and

Reading texts, emails, tweets, articles, and web browsing in general have us reading more today than at any time in our history. The question is if reading all of these short snippets of information is nearly as valuable to us as reading whole texts was to us in the past.

I feel as though Nicholar Carr succeeded in demonstrating the importance of how the Internet changes our brain’s ability to absorb information. The opposing views of his claim would be that there is not a change in our thinking or that the Internet is not what is responsible for that change. My position is most closely aligned with Carr’s. I believe that the Internet’s convenience has altered the expectations we have for how easily information should be presented. We prefer information to be short, to-the-point, tidbits that are easy to

“Modern economies are highly dependent on information systems and networks connected to “cyberspace” a virtual world with a population of several billion and growing.”

To begin, the internet is altering the human ability to concentrate for long periods of time. There are many distractions on the internet. Even if people are looking for something as small as a definition on the internet, all of the hyperlinks and ads can make people stray away from finding it. Many people begin to get fidgety and lose concentration after only a couple of pages. Nicholas Carr struggles with keeping his concentration by stating in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” that “ I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do” (Carr 731). A person could be checking the score of a football game when all of the sudden an email message appears and totally diffuses that persons attention away from the score of the game. Also, the human brain is beginning to adapt to receiving information quickly. Research that took days of searching through multiple books can now be done in only a few

Forgetting used to be a failing, a waste, a sign of senility. Now it takes effort. It may be as important as remembering.” Harris uses this quote from James Gleick to introduce the topic of memory in his book. Harris (2014) asserts that with the constant connection of the internet, people are memorizing less info and “off-loading” memories onto their devices. “Human memory was never meant to call up all things, after all, but rather to explore the richness of exclusion, of absence.” (pg. 164) With new technology it is possible to know almost everything with the click of a button. Within seconds we can search for a friend’s birthday or the name of that cast member on our favorite show. We have “the illusion of knowledge” which brings up the question of what do we truly know as compared to that of a computer? Human memory is substantially different from that of computers. While a computer's entire memory could be concentrated down to ones and zeroes, the human mind is much more complex, relying on certain instances for us to recall our memories. “Memory is a lived, morphing experience...not some static file from which we withdraw the same data time and again.” (Harris, 2014, pg.

“Social media allows people to connect with each other to create and share information. It is people-powered communication, an authentic dialogue motivated by a basic human desire to share information” (CIPD, Social Media and Employee Voice Report 2013). ‘Click’ and my message is on its way to my friend’s Facebook inbox hundred of miles away. The astonishing speed of how quick we can communicate in today’s societies, all thanks to social media. The invention of Facebook simplified everything we know about communication. We can connect to people whenever and wherever, sharing information has never been more convenient and exciting. In Shane Hipps’ Article, “ Is Facebook Killing Our Souls?,” he has no intention to impede technological advancements, instead he wants users to understand technologies with insights. According to my research, although Hipps ' points has some merits, I disagree with him because he overgeneralized the impacts that Facebook and other social media has on users’ behaviors and identities.

Following this, corresponding to the two biases of communication, there are both oral and written media. Oral communication can be seen as time-binding because in oral societies, knowledge can only be passed through generations by word of mouth which generally take place within groups or communities (Innis, 1990). Also, because memory is limited, it is necessary to be particularly selective about knowledge, as a result of which, knowledge not related to maintaining tradition is difficult to be handed down (ibid.).