{"id":654,"date":"2015-08-05T14:13:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T21:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/parm27\/?p=654"},"modified":"2016-08-07T11:00:35","modified_gmt":"2016-08-07T18:00:35","slug":"do-you-remember-your-pre-internet-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/parm27\/do-you-remember-your-pre-internet-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Remember Your Pre-Internet Brain?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cIn the last few years I\u2019ve been saying I miss my pre-Internet brain, and I think people know what I mean. And then lately I\u2019ve been realizing I no longer even remember my pre-Internet brain. This technology has rewired my own brain, and I mean that in a genuine neurological sense, but it\u2019s also rewired everyone else\u2019s brain the same way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Douglas Coupland<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Image<\/a>

Image by parm27 (CC-BY)<\/p><\/div>\n

Douglas Coupland is not the only person to comment on the way the internet has impacted our thinking. Michael Wesch\u2019s video, “Information R\/evolution<\/a>,” shows how digital information is different than written information. Consequently, the way<\/em> we think of information is different as well.<\/p>\n

In the digital world, hypertext it is now common cultural knowledge (Boulter, 15) and it\u2019s uses permits us to be able to link massive amounts of information. Whereas, in the pre-digital world people were the concerned about recording information and thoughts, now the concerns are about the overwhelming amount of information which is available. There is much more information readily available than our minds are able assimilate. We are able to navigate the web and selectively choose the information that we want to \u201cconsume\u201d. As mentioned in the ETEC540: Text Technologies: The Changing Spaces of Reading and Writing\u00a0<\/strong>course\u00a0materials, “children who grow up using ThinkTank, or similar\u00a0programs,\u00a0may develop the capacity to handle large amounts of information, and to structure it at an early age\u201d (UBC, 2015).<\/p>\n

It is notable that writing for the Internet tends to be more concise, linked, and \u201clayered\u201d to facilitate\u00a0quick access and web surfing. Boulter and Kress both have acknowledged that visual representation is dominating over textual representation on the web (UBC, 2015).\u00a0 For example, \u201cBolter identifies a tension between textual and visual modes of representation\u201d (UBC, 2015).\u00a0 Because of this many people are concerned about how some of the affordances of the web are impacting our brains by:<\/p>\n