Last year a new book- the Shallows by Nicholas Carr- suggested that the internet and new devices are “rewiring” of our brains and creating a new generation with the attention span of a knat- unable to concentrate without clicking away to something else. Certainly you have to get to the point quicker these days ( most videos on youtube last less that 3 mins) but that may be more to do with being busy, our perceived shortage of time and the explosion of choice
And then there is this this from The bookseller…
“Although overall book sales fell 2.2% week-on-week (to £25.1m), spending on children’s books soared nine percent week-on-week, according to Nielsen BookScan Top 5,000 data, as schools broke for half-term. Children’s authors benefitting include Jeff Kinney, whose Diary of a Wimpy Kid series enjoyed a 20% uplift week-on-week, Rick Riordan (total sales up 9%), Jacqueline Wilson (up 17%), Anthony Horowitz (up 12%), Darren Shan (up 26%), and Octonauts author “Meomi” (up 7%)
It seems that the next generation still love to immerse themselves in good old fashioned stories and that the answer to Nicholas Carr’s question “Does Google Make us stupid ?” is probably not – it just gives is more rapid access to books and other stuff we want.
With HCL ISD coming up with their innovative platform MyCloud, Nicholas G. Carr (aka Nick), the author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, anticipates more such innovations out of intense competition. View HCL Technologies’ VP – Marketing Anubhav Saxena asking him about the development of an economic progress model for the suppliers of Cloud Computing. “Cloud is going to turn a lot of basic infrastructure into a raw commodity,” nodded Nick while replying to Anubhav. http://bit.ly/kKjWJF