some of us revel in our ability to multitask, saying that we are more efficient by being able to do multiple things at the same time therefore completing more tasks more quickly. however, by seeing those studies that microsoft conducted on how when employees become interrupted by a phone call or by an im or by surfing the web, it would take them on average 27 minutes to return back to work and sometimes even two hours. obviously everybody handles multitasking differently as i'm not really phased when it comes to being interrupted, but then again everybody handles it differently.
the next effect is how the excessive use of technology may cause attention deficit disorder. we see how people multitask and it is literally impossible to focus completely on more than one task so it may be said that we are slowly losing our concentration when it comes to more boring exercises such as writing or reading. thus with the amount of advertisements we see everyday and how much shorter they had become, the attention span of students has decreased and many have trouble concentrating on important stuff like school. so the argument here is that because of too much tv or cell phone use or internet use (and i would also add multitasking), students are losing their attention spans and their ability to concentrate in school. i don't know how much data has been collected on this hypothesis, but i do notice a depreciation in the length of a student's attention span, but then add is the one diagnose all if your kid is not doing well in school. therapists and doctors would assign kids medicine for add, fueled by the parents desire for a quick cure-all dosage rather than looking at environmental factors. is it the technology or the kid or the parents? idk
next baron writes about how using the internet cuts down on the actual face time we have with real people in our days. we don't need to actually see people to convey messages and because of this baron argues that we lose important face time and the human value of meeting and talking to another person. baron's example was how we could just send a facebook message to wish someone a happy birthday, but reluctantly call in order to avoid any awkwardness. tieing this topic in with "controlling the volume," baron points out very important issues of how people are now selecting who to talk to and when they wanna talk. until i came to notre dame, i never hear the word "awkward" in daily conversation. but students here use it signify an instance of uneasiness that has arisen due to someone saying something strange or the natural quieting of conversations, commonly referred to as "awkward silence." now it bothers me to talk to people who have to point out each instance as it occurs and to me these situations aren't awkward at all but rather normal. silence is required to think and saying something radical is a common form of humor. i don't know what the big deal is. i think people nowadays have a fear of face time due to not having enough things to say or they are afraid of "making things awkward" for themselves. so because of this fear they have chosen to use emc over real time talking. i can't say that it is because of technology that we are lacking in social skills to talk to other people in face time, but i can say that technology does offer saving grace for those who choose not to talk to others in face time.
another consequence of being "always on" is how the anticipation of a reunion or seeing an old friend is now gone. since we can talk to almost every person we know anytime, and also if we travel for a while we can always call home, then where's the anticipation for that person when they return? i mean, we already know everything that happened to that person because they either called us and told us about it or just wrote it on their blog. so what do we ask when they get back? we still ask the same questions over again because - i want to argue that - the anticipation is still there. i believe that we have a ranking for the intimacy of technology in reference to face time. emails are less intimate than phone calls and phone calls are less intimate than face time. so we still place a high value on meeting a person and talking about their day or how their trip was. the anticipation is still there because couples can't wait for their significant other to meet them at a certain location or what not.
lastly, baron expounds on the importance of the human choice and how people use technologies. technology is a tool, an instrument that humans decide to use. it affects everyone differently and people handle technology in different ways. some people pick it up quickly and for some people it takes a while. its a benefit for its convenience and then its a disadvantage for its inconvenience. it's all up to the individual when and where and why they choose to use it, at least that's what the inebriated anthropologist says.
