Saturday, June 23, 2012

School Tech Connect: Social Media Brain Rot

School Tech Connect: Social Media Brain Rot:


Social Media Brain Rot

Spent the day with a book. Let me just say this one little thing sorta kinda related to ed technology.

My nose
I'm a person who reads a lot of books. If you can't find my nose, it's because it's in a book somewhere. But I'm also a social media person. I blog, I check my Twitter feed every 32 seconds. I learn about the world outside of Rogers Park from social media. 

What I find is that it's much easier for me to start a new book if I've been reading books immediately prior. If I've been blogging, or tweeting, or whatever, and I let a week go by before starting a new book, then I really, really struggle to get into the new book. I'll read a page, nap, read a page, nap, check Twitter, check my Google Alerts, nap, look for the book, nap, etc.. It's as if the working parts of my brain are so atrophied after a week on social media, that I exhausted by the simplest requirements of imaginative literature. 

Books just seem intensely boring to me once I'm out of the habit. But once my brain wakes up, and I'm lost in a story, then I find myself immersed in it to a degree beyond anything I experience "online."  Then, when I'm done