Saturday musings

I've been musing about the amount of time we have for breaks & mental musings...with Chris Anderson's headline Wired article, "The web is dead, long live the internet" creating a huge buzz both online & in pen&ink in the Observer 'Are phone apps killing the web's original spirit of fresh discovery?', it made me think....when do we take time-out from connecting with digital? Even when we're with friends on a night out, within 30 minutes we're comparing apps, discussing the virtues of a touch-screen versus a pad [can you tell from your sms' who has an iphone...the person with the most typos I reckon] & talking about who's getting what, when!

It used to be that we took short breaks walking between those business meetings, on the treadmill [ummm that's not really been me, but in the interest of giving plausible examples! ] or on public transport, but now it seems that we're cramming those spare minutes with more & more information, digitally accessed. Yes...infowhlem...with androids, pads, smartphones & touches & crackberries, it seems that we really can't switch off!

But for some smart thinkers, it seems as if it's affecting our ability to be truly creative. With an article in the New York Times suggesting "Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime" University of california scientists think that constant digital input forfeits people's '...downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas'.

What I found particularly laudable & laughable about the articles is that it doesn't seem to take into account that they don't really take the position of a young person...ask them if they feel they're not being creative with their time. See what they say when you ask them how they use the web or internet...is their a difference. It's about the evolution, of the human brain & how time & what tools are used by a new generation...
& to that point, here's a poster I saw in a window of an Amsterdam library...with the local library having Digital Month and teaching people how to embrace the new e-book tool...I bet kids don't need this class...what do you think?