Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows, has suggested that the web is making us more stupid – that we are distracted and unable to concentrate on one thing long enough to engage with it properly.
With the information in the headers and the sidebars constantly changing - and the links there to tempt us and encourage side-tracking - most websites actively discourage concentration.
Carr suggests everyone is skimming over the glittering surface of the web.
Trying to save time and find more information, my style is more like a swimmer: I dip a little deeper but push a lot of excellent information behind me.
Nicholas Carr’s point is valid, I don’t have enough time to be much of a scuba diver.
When it comes to recreational reading, I cling to real books; this is literally true.
If the story is gripping, my fingers ache from clutching the cover and I resent the time it takes to turn over. I hold the pages higher and I peep around before I’ve actually finished reading the end of the page.
The reader exists on two plains - there in-body but in-spirit somewhere else instead.
"The novelist is inviting the reader to watch a performance in his own brain." ~ George Buchanan
Do you see yourself as a surfer, a swimmer or a scuba diver, when it comes to the Internet?
