Online nation
The media have recently been awash with stories about the psychological impact of excessive internet usage, and the use of social networking sites in particular. Lady Greenfield has said that these sites risk “infantilising” us psychologically, condemning us to hyper-active, low-attention-span relationships. As Wired reported, a new book, Distracted, offers a chilling vision of how the brain responds to the interactive, clickable world that many are growing addicted to (though the choice of subtitle, “the Coming Dark Age”, suggests a publisher whose brain might also be suffering from a little hyperactivity). This thesis echoes a lovely line in Andrew Barry’s Political Machines, about how interactive technology reduces the scope for “creative passivity”.
This strikes me as more than standard Daily Express “modern society ate my child” hysteria. Perhaps this is personal anxiety on my part. My GCSE revision was constantly threatened by the fact that my guitar was lying dormant in the next room, or worse, in the same room. But had I been but two taps of my index finger away from…
You have now reached your limit of 3 free articles in the last 30 days.
But don’t worry! You can get another 7 articles absolutely free, simply by entering your email address in the box below.
When you register we’ll also send you a free e-book—Writing with punch—which includes some of the finest writing from our archive of 22 years. And we’ll also send you a weekly newsletter with the best new ideas in politics and philosophy of culture, which you can of course unsubscribe from at any time
Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information.
Click to learn more about these interests and how we use your data. You will be able to object to this processing on the next page and in all our communications.
Tom Chatfield
David Heigham
David Heigham