Your Brain on Computers – Digital Devices Deprive Your Brain of Needed Downtime

Reading comments

Week #1

Title: In this post I’ll be commenting on the article “Your Brain On Computers – Digital Devices Deprive the Brain of Needed Downtime” by Matt Richtel

Comments: I found this article fascinating. Being a long-distance runner, I love to run with my mp3 player or IPod blasting techno as I run for 30 minutes to and hour. Reading this, however, I could see how this could hinder my brain from getting that much needed rest. During our cross country practices, I would never listen to music because I would be running with a friend. Thinking back on it, I can see the difference between those times when I was running without my music blaring and when I was simply running.

I had also heard of the memory issue before. I believe this to be true as well. It makes sense that the brain would need some time to process what it had just learned, and to then internalize it so the next time it does that activity, it can remember what had been done before and improve upon it. Sleep is important for that very same reason, along with the fact that we need sleep to survive.

As to how this impacts New Media, I would say that this study occurred because of the  abundance of mental stimulae in our modern society. Because of the constant evolution and growth of New Media technologies, we can literally be busy twenty-four hours a day. This article serves as a warning to all of us media enthusiasts that every now and then, it’s nice just to take a break.

Next

Previous

Drilling Down-Women Set the Pace as Online Gamers

Reading comments

Week #1

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article by Teddy Wane, “Drilling Down – Women Set the Pace as Online Gamers”

Comments: I thought this article was quick, fun, and very informative. I had some idea that women would spend more time than men on communication components of the web, but I had no idea that women would overtake the men in the online gaming category. After reading the article though, I can see how it would work. Generally, when you think of online gaming, you think of games like World of Warcraft, which are very male-oriented games. But what you don’t think of are games like Farm Ville or other word or puzzle games that men don’t play as often.

Other than that, the article didn’t have too much to say that shocked or intrigued me. But it definitely opened my eyes to what I consider gaming to be, and to how stereo types can be misleading.

Next

Previous

Twitter Revamps Its Web Site

Reading comments

Week #1

Title: In this post, I’ll be commenting on the article called “Twitter Revamps Its Web Site” by Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft.

Comments: I decided to read this article because I know absolutely nothing about Twitter. Really, I don’t know anything. What I do know, is that Twitter is huge. It mentions in the article that Twitter started up in 2006, which means that Twitter has only been in existence for four years. If you look how popular it is now, you can see that the folks who made Twitter did something right. So, I figure that Twitter is important to know about, and decided to read the article.

The thing I found most surprising I saw right off the bat; Twitter’s website wasn’t very good before the update. What? I thought this company was huge, and had millions of people using their service. In the article, it states over 70% of users access Twitter online even though the site had major flaws in how it functioned as a user-friendly environment.

This surprised me, but as I read on it made more sense. The company had grown much quicker than any of the founders has anticipated, so funds had to be used in other areas before the usability of the site could be considered. I guess this makes sense, but they also said that the new site will be beneficial to advertisers because of the better layout on the page. You would think that ease of advertising would be a number one concern, especially for a company trying to keep its site from crashing.

Though it was a little alarming to learn that Twitter had so many flaws on their website, it was an educational experience for me as I got a first look at Twitter, and how their making changes for the future. Maybe it’s better that I haven’t tried Twitter before this, or else I would have had to suffer along with everybody else.

Next

Previous

“Computers as Invisible as the Air”

Reading comments

Week #1

Title: In this post, I will be reflecting on the article “Computers as Invisible as the Air” by John Markoff.

Comments: The topic of the article was the evolution of the microchip technology, and its possible continuation of Moore’s law through this evolution in data-storage technology. I found this topic very interesting, because it highlighted the evolution of technology, through companies such as PARC and men such as Steve Jobs, and how they have helped to prove Engelbert and Moore’s theory of Moore’s law, or the exponential increase of computing power coupled with an exponential drop in price. The more time that passes, the more advanced technology becomes. The smaller things get, the more power they provide, and the most cost efficient they become. This has been a trend that has occurred over the past thirty years at least, and as the article hypothesizes, is a trend that will be continued with the discovery of this new technology.

I firmly believe in Moore’s law. To me, it makes a lot of sense. Just from the trend we have seen over the past thirty years, technology will continue to improve, to shrink, and to become even more personalized. This in turn will force scientists to find new ways of providing the required data and power to provide the product at a cost consumers can afford. Then the next leap in technology will occur, and the cycle will start all over again. This continuous loop is very important to the innovation process, and will continue as long as there are resources on this Earth to discover and humans to create the technology.

Next

Previous