Comments on: 5 Ways the Internet Is Warping Your Brain and Transforming Your Life — And What You Can Do About It

By: DavidSwindle

DavidSwindle — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:15:24 +0000

The opposite would most definitely be true. Reading on the computer simply doesn't work. Too many distractions.

You'll love your Kindle when you get it.

By: Walter Scott Hudson

Walter Scott Hudson — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 21:05:06 +0000

Regrettably, I am in need of such a routine. I've been whittling through Glenn Beck's "The Overton Window" since it came out. I got it through Kindle for PC, thinking I would be more likely to read it via my laptop. As it turns out, the opposite is true. When I'm on the laptop, I'm typically online working on something or managing the stream of incoming info. I need to stick to solid books until I can get a handheld Kindle.

Lingering in my Amazon wishlist: F.A. Hayek's "Road to Surfdom," "George Washington's Sacred Fire" by Peter A. Lillback, and Larry Schweikart's "The Seven Events That Made America" among others.

By: DavidSwindle

DavidSwindle — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 23:02:29 +0000

When do I do my reading? Usually while lying in bed at night. April falls asleep as an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation plays — that's her favorite falling-asleep-viewing — and when she's asleep I pull out my book light and either my book or Kindle and read myself to sleep. Right now I'm reading our colleague Joe Klein's book "Lethal Engagement" and Adam Bellow's "In Defense of Nepotism." Then I'll start Mitchell Bard's "The Arab Lobby."

What about you?

By: DavidSwindle

DavidSwindle — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:19:38 +0000

You're welcome. Thanks Mark.

Your point about the Golden Age of television sounds on the money.

By: Walter Scott Hudson

Walter Scott Hudson — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:10:05 +0000

A comment and a question:

First, to the point about information overload, I am quite familiar with the concept both on and offline. One of my first jobs was dispatching security at a major metropolitan hospital. In that environment, much like the internet space in which so many of us work, information is coming at you constantly. More than that, you don't have the option to "turn it off." You have to deal with it, prioritize, and remain calm.

I took an invaluable skill away from that job, the ability to detach my sense of urgency from my cognitive process. In other words, I learned to be calm under fire, to differ shock in lieu of rational reaction. To a lesser extent, the same skill is developed by those of us who work in an online environment. If you let yourself be distracted by every urgent message jockeying for your attention – like the cacophony of a foreign bazaar or the chattering drone of the Borg collective – you'll never get anything done.

My question though, David, is this. From one workaholic to another, when do you find the time to read books? How do you squeeze it in?

By: MarkMeed

MarkMeed — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:38:37 +0000

This is a very dense post, in the best sense of the term. Lots to think about, virtually no filler. Thanks for sharing it. I will order a copy of Rushkoff’s book posthaste.

The first point reminds me of comments I heard years ago on of all things the Dick Cavett show. Two veteran TV writers were observing that one of the reasons the Golden age of television was Golden was that first-generation writers in that medium were heavily informed by theater and literature, whereas successive generations thereafter referenced nothing but other television, creating a kind of inbreeding. This is an inexact analogy, but I think it has some application to the current and future state of content on the Internet if we don't heed Rushkoff's excellent advice.

Excellent post. Thanks again.