djwonk

I value my attention; I’ve been paying attention to my attention for quite a few years actually. In this fantastic article from The Atlantic, Nicholas Carr connects together some disturbing trends about Google and the Web in general.

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. … The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

I think Carr’s article is a must-read. It covers a lot of ground, and I do not have the time or space now to address all of its points one by one.

But let me say one thing: I am saddened to think that the Net itself, driven by its current revenue model of advertising and ad click-throughs, is probably profiting from the ADD of its viewers. This is why I believe that people must guard their attention and spend their time with Web sites that provide real value. I also hope that the next round of Internet entrepreneurs will offer Web experiences that truly enrich people’s lives rather than sending them careening around the Net aimlessly.