I hope y’all had a good weekend! Well where to begin…
It is evident from Karr’s article that people (myself included) have developed an inability to focus on lengthy texts due to the internet. “A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.” Our brains can no longer retain depth from reading, since we learn the art of skim reading on the internet. While typing an essay, it becomes distracting being on the computer. I take numerous breaks going on Facebook, playing solitaire, and checking emails. The internet is literally turning our brains to mush.
In postmodernism, there is a decentering of values. There are an infinite number of metanarratives making there no central focal point. I think this reflects how people can no longer focus or comprehend a sophisticated understanding of any one thing. Vonnegut most likely made Cat’s Cradle with short chapters that had a different topic for almost every chapter because he knew people would be incapable of focusing on any one topic for an extended period. One such character, Mona, has an inability to focus on one man. For instance, when John knows he is going to marry Mona, he wants her to only love him and she tells him that, “[she] loves everyone” (207). Mona cannot even focus on being committed to one man. If she were dedicated to John, she would learn the depth of his personality, but by being promiscuous, she can ‘skim’ over him and other men.
The internet has even corrupted marriage in today’s society. More than 50 % of marriages end in divorce. People become disinterested in there spouses because of the lack of focus promoted by surfing the net. Apparently, even Barbie and Ken, after years of marriage, are now divorced. As you can see, the internet has turned people into mindless zombies.
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I have read some of the posts you have written on your blog in the past, but obviously not enough. You always have really amazing insight on the week’s topic issue and how they relate to our current readings. First off, I would like to mention how I completely agree with you and the author of the article about the internet’s ability to transform people until super “muti-taskers “. I too have been subjected to this way of life. While I am working on a homework assignment, I will constantly think about what to do afterwards, even if I am nowhere near being finished. I become especially distracted when doing assignments on computer. I see the Mozilla Firefox icon and it just mocks me until I break and open up the program checking my emails, Facebook, the weather, and plenty of other websites unrelated to my homework. I would also like to mention your grand insight on Cat’s Cradle, along with Postmodernism, and how they both relate to the issues granted by the article. Your emphasis on focus being a flaw with internet users and how “Vonnegut most likely made Cat’s Cradle with short chapters that had a different topic for almost every chapter because he knew people would be incapable of focusing on any one topic for an extended period” was very clever. When we started the novel in class, I always admired the book for having such short chapters for the reasons you mentioned above. But it never occurred to me that Vonnegut may have done this for the focus of the reader. I was never able to connect his motives with this recent article. Overall, this was a very enlightening blog which I really enjoyed. Good job Katie, and I hope to see you in calculus tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteI loved how you compared things in your topic such as using Postmodernism and genius ideas such as Barbie and Ken! haha. It is crazy how are minds have a short attention spand now than from people in the past. As internet is increasing, our personal mind use is decreasing. It is pathetic =( People rely so much on the internet that they turn down reading a book that has insightful information to ultimately increase his or her knowledge. We have the time to search facbook, emails, etc., but we cannot even reach over for a book. We rely on entertainment and shortcuts rather that meaningful facts that will assist us in our future or even near future! Good job with your blog! Keep it up!!! =)
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