Saturday, August 19, 2006

The Age of Distraction

Paul B. Hartzog in his blog 'Politics, Economy, Society, Culture, Complexity, and Networks' has coined the term “age of distraction” to describe what he thinks is the period we are moving into. For example, he states that:

"Multitasking becomes continuous partial attention: One possible response to the explosion of devices and access is the development of “continuous partial attention”.

Second, after continuous partial attention, we enter an era in which the ability to focus on anything for long periods of time diminishes. In effect, using technologies like RSS and cellphones, we have trained ourselves to be constantly aware and on the lookout for distractions."

Another way of approaching 'our' fast forward converging culture, amidst an acceleration of devices, connections, always-on networks + mobilities, and information bombardment and complexities.

Do mobilities of information destabilise as much, or more, than it enables?

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