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[Maria Winslow <maria.winslow AT dexxtra.com>]

Continuous partial attention is life with a toddler!


> Subject: continuous partial attention
> From: "Thomas A. Beckett" <thomas AT tbeckett.com>
> Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 18:13:00 -0500
> X-Message-Number: 2

>
>         Some of y'all may have read the op/ed piece in the New York Times a
> couple weeks ago about the social psychological effects of living in a
> wired world.  The catchphrase that seems to have captured the zeigeist
> is the concept of "continuous partial attention."  Basically, we are so
> pervasively connected to various communication devices that we spread
> our attention among several inputs at once and give our concentration to
> nothing (and no body).
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/30/opinion/30FRIE.html
>
>         I find this happening to me, certainly.  It is in the same category 
> as
> channel surfing and web surfing.  Seems like it has been a long time
> since I've spent as much as half a day curled up with a good book, or
> writing, etc.
>
>         Does this affect your life?
>
> TaB
>
> Some excerpts:
>
> Then there was the panel about the 21st-century corporation, during
> which participants described this age of digital Darwinism in chilling
> terms: The key to winning in business today is adapt or die, get wired
> or
> get killed, work 24 hours a day from everywhere or be left behind.
> Finally, during the question time, Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony
> America, stood up and said: "Doesn't anyone here think this sounds like
> a
> vision of hell? While we are all competing or dying, when will there be
> time for sex or music or books? Stop the world, I want to get off."
>
> My favorite, though, was that we now live in an age of what a Microsoft
> researcher, Linda Stone, called continuous partial attention. I love
> that
> phrase. It means that while you are answering your e-mail and talking to
> your kid, your cell phone rings and you have a conversation. You are
> now involved in a continuous flow of interactions in which you can only
> partially concentrate on each.
>
> The problem is that human beings simply are not designed to be like
> computer servers. For one thing, they are designed to sleep eight hours
> a
> night. So there is a big misfit brewing here. I still can't program my
> VCR;
> how am I going to program my toaster? As Jeff Garten, dean of the Yale
> School of Management and author of a smart new book that deals with
> some of these themes, "The Mind of the CEO," said: "Maybe it's not time
> for us to adapt or die, but for the technology to adapt or die."
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: continuous partial attention
> From: robert AT designhammer.com
> Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 19:18:46 -0500
> X-Message-Number: 3
>
> Hey Tom,
>
> I've noticed this for quite some time. The more "time saving" technology I
> have in my life the less free time I have ;-)
>
> When I was a cabinetmaker living in NYC it seemed I had a ton of times on my
> hands to explore all of my various interests and a lot of time for quiet
> reflection. There were actually different parts of the day back then,
> morning, the work day, evening and night time.
>
> Now usually the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at
> night before bed is a computer, and all through the day there is the
> computer or the Handspring or the cellphone. If one of these goes down or
> has problems its panic time.
>
> On the flip side of that most of what I have in my life these days was
> directly brought about by my involvement with the Internet and computers. I
> met my wife through the Lynda Weinmann listserv. I now live in North
> Carolina because of that. I found my 1969 MG and my 2000 Ford Ranger though
> searches on the web. I can now work at home. The ways technology has shaped
> my life in just the past six years is profound.
>
> So its a mixed bag at best. My wife and I have found that we need to make a
> serious effort to find the quiet times for ourselves. We spend weekends
> camping, canoeing and kayaking. Just two days at a time away from all of
> these technological wonders can do wonders for clearing out our heads. Oh
> yeah we found our canoe and camper on line..........
>
> I hope this made some sense, I couldn't really concentrate on what I was
> writing as I'm doing a million things at the moment ;-)
>
> Robert Weeks
>
> Partner:Technology
> DesignHammer Media Group, LLC
> 919-419-0969 - phone
> 919-219-5269 - mobile
> http://www.designhammer.com
>
> On 2/6/01 6:13 PM, "Thomas A. Beckett" <thomas AT tbeckett.com> wrote:
>
> > Some of y'all may have read the op/ed piece in the New York Times a
> > couple weeks ago about the social psychological effects of living in a
> > wired world.  The catchphrase that seems to have captured the zeigeist
> > is the concept of "continuous partial attention."  Basically, we are so
> > pervasively connected to various communication devices that we spread
> > our attention among several inputs at once and give our concentration to
> > nothing (and no body).
> >
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/30/opinion/30FRIE.html
> >
> > I find this happening to me, certainly.  It is in the same category as
> > channel surfing and web surfing.  Seems like it has been a long time
> > since I've spent as much as half a day curled up with a good book, or
> > writing, etc.
> >
> > Does this affect your life?
> >
> > TaB
> >
> > Some excerpts:
> >
> > Then there was the panel about the 21st-century corporation, during
> > which participants described this age of digital Darwinism in chilling
> > terms: The key to winning in business today is adapt or die, get wired
> > or
> > get killed, work 24 hours a day from everywhere or be left behind.
> > Finally, during the question time, Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony
> > America, stood up and said: "Doesn't anyone here think this sounds like
> > a
> > vision of hell? While we are all competing or dying, when will there be
> > time for sex or music or books? Stop the world, I want to get off."
> >
> > My favorite, though, was that we now live in an age of what a Microsoft
> > researcher, Linda Stone, called continuous partial attention. I love
> > that
> > phrase. It means that while you are answering your e-mail and talking to
> > your kid, your cell phone rings and you have a conversation. You are
> > now involved in a continuous flow of interactions in which you can only
> > partially concentrate on each.
> >
> > The problem is that human beings simply are not designed to be like
> > computer servers. For one thing, they are designed to sleep eight hours
> > a
> > night. So there is a big misfit brewing here. I still can't program my
> > VCR;
> > how am I going to program my toaster? As Jeff Garten, dean of the Yale
> > School of Management and author of a smart new book that deals with
> > some of these themes, "The Mind of the CEO," said: "Maybe it's not time
> > for us to adapt or die, but for the technology to adapt or die."
> >
> > ---
> > Come and play at the InterNetWorkers Web site!
> > http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> > You are currently subscribed to internetworkers as: 
> > robert AT designhammer.com
> > To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> > $subst('Email.Unsub')
> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: continuous partial attention
> From: "Dave Parker" <vividp AT email.msn.com>
> Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 22:34:20 -0500
> X-Message-Number: 4
>
> Thomas wrote:
>
> > The catchphrase that seems to have captured the zeigeist
> > is the concept of "continuous partial attention
>
> Funny. Continuous partial attention has been a major aspect in my wife's
> family since well before the technological revolution. Her mother can
> skillfully watch TV, fold laundry and carry on two conversations at once.
>
> They live in one of those slow-moving, bucolic small towns, where you'd
> expect to find few type A personalities. Yet she in all her life wouldn't
> think of spending half the day doing just one thing, even if she didn't have
> a Palm Pilot, which she doesn't.
>
> - Dave P.
>
> ---
>
> END OF DIGEST
>
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--
Maria Winslow
maria.winslow AT dexxtra.com
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