Thank you for sharing your story, Iris! I could resonate with both lines that you shared – the differences we detect in our food and what Google has done for the way we now find and consume information. I too have been frustrated by my inability to truly capture the tastes from home, and one reason is that I think I could not control how an electric stove would heat what I was cooking at various stages of preparation the way I could when I cooked with flame from a gas burner. In the same way, Google has provided pros and cons to the information search and consumption process; we now have access to more information, but it can now be difficult to really do a deep dive on everything that we find.

I really like the idea of focusing on a topic is a skill these days. I notice that many times when I am working on the computer, emails, web browsing, etc. can easily distract me. I do have to agree that if you learn to focus, technology can greatly increase your productivity. For example, if you are reading a paper and you do not understand something, you can do a quick web search to investigate more. The main challenge is staying focus, as you have mentioned.

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Reading your excellent post makes me sad because you are absolutely right. The need to multitask in academic life and carry ever larger burdens of work to the point where sleep becomes a luxury also means that our work will tend to be more shallow. I have two kinds of work that cannot be shallow, and to my dismay, I have little time for either.

One kind of work is being present for students. Just making myself available. Instead, I will spend my office hours on email, writing quiz questions, or producing documents, and hope that nobody will stop by because I’m too busy! This is the opposite of what needs to happen.

The other kind of work that requires deep presence is grading. No multitasking here! It takes time to do a thoughtful, thorough, and consistent job. Without the luxury of large chunks of time to focus on grading, I often think that I would get more “work” done if I just stayed home. (Except I would not be present for students!) Sigh. Rather than just take my attention away from work 1 and work 2, electronic distractions need to be harnessed to somehow do “shallow” work for me so I’ll have time for deep work.

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Thank you for your post. When reading your post, I think about the time when teachers came to a classroom with their paper notebook and lectured with blackboard and chalk and now when classrooms are equipped with connected devices. Despite the changes in the classroom environment, there is one thing holding true for me. The knowledge staying with me is the one that I have to spend time and effort to understand it. The knowledge that is easy to come is also easy to go.

I’ve been having several conversations with other graduate students about self-care or the idea that you have to take time away from research, writing, etc. in order to put yourself first. Some examples I have found are:
– Go cloud watching. The Drillfield is an excellent spot for this!
– Oxygenate by taking three deep breaths.
– Help someone.
Also, here are a few sites:

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/45-simple-self-care-practices-for-a-healthy-mind-body-and-soul/
http://www.bonappetit.com/gallery/25-ways-practice-self-care
http://www.health.com/mind-body/self-care-ideas

Very intriguing post! I like how you relate technology to kids. This is indeed a crucial issue for young generations. In general, adults are more self-disciplined than kids in ways that adults have a relatively mature perception of the Internet. Kids are not. They are more malleable in front of the Internet. We as adults, as parents, and as educators, should pay more attention to mitigate the potential negative impact of the Internet on our kids.

I think you’re hitting on some cool points. Mainly, is it we who shape technology or is it technology that shapes us? The new capabilities that Google and the internet granted us enabled an extension of our understanding of productivity. I think your recognition of the speeding up or the shortening of our attention spans correctly frames how access to the expansive knowledge network of the World Wide Web co-produces habits of researching while defining what the internet is.

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I think you’re making some cool connections (love Black Mirror). The social environment should include the online world that we export memories to. I remember one of our readings this semester that made the analogy between analog networks, like libraries, and digital networks. It seems like we have to recognize books as a technology of memory that allows pieces of persons to live on within analog knowledge networks. Why shouldn’t we see the Internet the same way?

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Very interesting and insightful post!
There are always various kinds of comments or critiques for technology. I tend to believe that technology is useful in helping people away from low-efficient and labor-burdensome work and moving to high-efficient and mind-creative work. However, without a doubt, there is a cost for it. Technology broadens our perception of the world and expands our curiosity of the world by authorizing us easily accessible information/knowledge. This sometimes can be called “distraction”, depending on whether one is urged to focus on one’s own work.

Final papers in the form of interpretive dance would be amazing for what I teach! But I would limit them to doing it as interpretive ballet because they’re learning about Russia.