Divided Attention Disorder. Are You Suffering From It?
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The Internet is a double edged sword. It has certainly made it easy to gather information, conduct research, study in a more thorough fashion, and interact with others interested in your topic. The Shallows is one of few books that goes into detail on how the Internet could actually be detrimental to our brains. Apparently, DAD is becoming a common issue among those who are spending time on the Internet 24/7 (or close to it). With tabbed browsing and all the distractions on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking websites, it is not easy to dismiss the idea that the Internet may be changing our brains (in some ways for the worse).
When you are researching a topic or reading a book, the last thing you want is to be distracted by widgets, games, and pointless links. That’s the main reason we gave the iPad thumbs down for being too distracting. The Internet lifestyle can be quite addictive. One can spend hours each day using Google to search on pointless topics. Let’s not forget that concentration is the first thing to go when you are suffering from information overload and have too many tabs to play with on your computer or tablet.
Of course, not everyone feels the pains of Divided Attention Disorder. It is true that younger people read more often now than ever. What’s not clear is whether the average quality of those reads has stayed the same (we are talking about blogs, forums, and feeds after all). Thankfully DAD is not something a nice book can’t alleviate. Dedicated e-readers such as Kindle may not outperform iPad and Xoom in many areas, but they are less distracting, which is why they will remain very popular.
