Source: NY Times Magazine, Sunday, January 31, 2016
Tag: Smartphone
Growing more itchy and agitated by the day
“Sven Birkerts is an anxious man. By turns he is frightened, terrified, alarmed, filled with dread. On one occasion he shudders in his core; mostly he is just plain worried. What concerns him, a concern he is eager to transmit to us, is the rapid spread of computer, Internet and telephone technologies and more specifically what those technologies are doing to our minds. Forever glued to screens of one kind or another, clicking compulsively on the links others provide for us, we are losing the ability to concentrate, growing more itchy and agitated by the day, allowing our consciousness to be fragmented and dispersed.”
~ Tim Parks. Read his full NY Times review of Sven Birkerts new book here: “Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age.”
Amazon’s Book Summary: “After two decades of rampant change, Birkerts has allowed a degree of everyday digital technology into his life. He refuses to use a smartphone, but communicates via e-mail and spends some time reading online. In Changing the Subject, he examines the changes that he observes in himself and others–the distraction when reading on the screen; the loss of personal agency through reliance on GPS and one-stop information resources; an increasing acceptance of “hive” behaviors. “An unprecedented shift is underway,” he argues, and “this transformation is dramatically accelerated and more psychologically formative than any previous technological innovation.” He finds solace in engagement with art, particularly literature, and he brilliantly describes the countering energy available to us through acts of sustained attention, even as he worries that our increasingly mediated existences are not conducive to creativity. It is impossible to read Changing the Subject without coming away with a renewed sense of what is lost by our wholesale acceptance of digital innovation and what is regained when we immerse ourselves in a good book.”
Look at me when I talking to you
“I’ve been finding it harder and harder to concentrate on words, sentences, paragraphs. Let alone chapters. Chapters often have page after page of paragraphs. It just seems such an awful lot of words to concentrate on, on their own, without something else happening. […]
When the people at the New Yorker can’t concentrate long enough to listen to a song all the way through, how are books to survive? […]
It makes me feel vaguely dirty, reading my phone with my daughter doing something wonderful right next to me, like I’m sneaking a cigarette. Or a crack pipe. […]
One time I was reading on my phone while my older daughter, the four-year-old, was trying to talk to me. I didn’t quite hear what she had said, and in any case… She grabbed my face in her two hands, pulled me towards her. “Look at me,” she said, “when I’m talking to you.” She is right. I should. […]
Spending time with friends, or family, I often feel a soul-deep throb coming from that perfectly engineered wafer of stainless steel and glass and rare earth metals in my pocket. Touch me. Look at me. You might find something marvelous. […]”
~ Hugh McGuire, Why Can’t We Read Anymore?
Don’t miss how McGuire changes and his explanation on why books are important. Full post here.
Photo Source: Choi Moi
Guess.What.Day.It.Is?
Our morning ritual. My buddy reads me my Fan mail before we shower and take a long walk in the desert.
Notes: Source: themetapicture.com. Background on Caleb and the Wednesday Hump Day Posts: Let’s Hit it Again.
Own smartphone? Your worst fears confirmed…
Your wallet is no longer the only item worth protecting with all sorts of personal and financial data on your smartphone readily available to thieves. Guess what I did with my personal phone after reading this article…
“…Symantec organized a multi-city clandestine project to see what happens when digital devices go missing…A total of 50 smartphones were distributed (purposefully lost) in 5 cities in restaurants, elevators, convenience stores and student unions. The devices were loaded with a buffet of juicy, fake data…Symantec tracked where the devices were taken once found, and what type of information was accessed by the “finders.”
“Many smartphone owners don’t take even simple steps, like requiring a PIN to unlock a phone…
“About 90% of all finders rifled through the phone’s apps and files, including ones that seemed to contain highly sensitive information.”
“80% looked at corporate data on the phone. About half took the bait to peek at the salary information and peruse the corporate email account. 40% couldn’t resist looking at the banking information. 57% looked at a password file…”
Source: BusinessWeek – Data Security: Most Finders of Smartphones Are Snoops
Related articles
- What Happens If You Lose Your Smartphone? [VIDEO] (mashable.com)