Are E-Books Making Us Stupid?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

I'm convinced that Ow! My Balls! will be a popular TV show in my lifetime.

I'm guessing you missed the twentieth-century Funniest Home Videos franchise?

[crich70]

Ebooks make knowledge more accessible to more people than ever before. I grant that textbooks aren't the most accessible in ebook format though. Still you can't turn back the clock and uninvent something.

[binaryhermit]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'm guessing you missed the twentieth-century Funniest Home Videos franchise?

I'm aware of that, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't all guys getting hit in the groinal area.

(It's a reference to Idiocracy, for the uninitiated)

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

I'm aware of that, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't all guys getting hit in the groinal area.

(It's a reference to Idiocracy, for the uninitiated)

I'm sure more than half the population thinks with stuff in the head than in the groin.

[binaryhermit]

It's more that stuff had been dumbed down so much that the #1 show on TV was called "Ow! My Balls!" and consisted solely of footage of guys getting hit in the groinal area

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

It's more that stuff had been dumbed down so much that the #1 show on TV was called "Ow! My Balls!" and consisted solely of footage of guys getting hit in the groinal area

It's very difficult for me to imagine who would want to watch such a show... Like, where's the entertainment? A chance to gloat for people who have no balls? (For the record, I don't).

[binaryhermit]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's very difficult for me to imagine who would want to watch such a show... Like, where's the entertainment? A chance to gloat for people who have no balls? (For the record, I don't).

The premise of Idiocracy is that the two most average people in the world were cryogenically frozen for 500 years and due to the stupid outbreeding the smart, they emerge as the smartest people in the world.

(And I guess the idea is that it's funny when someone else gets hit down there)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

The premise of Idiocracy is that the two most average people in the world were cryogenically frozen for 500 years and due to the stupid outbreeding the smart, they emerge as the smartest people in the world.

(And I guess the idea is that it's funny when someone else gets hit down there)

Ah, now I get it. I thought "Ow, my balls!" was an actual show, not a fictitious one.

[Luffy]

Idiocracy is a movie that I had, and gave it away without watching it. But I have a soft spot for Terry Crews and Luke Wilson. Crews's full name in the movie is Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Ah, now I get it. I thought "Ow, my balls!" was an actual show, not a fictitious one.

Give it time. It will be an actual show.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Idiocracy is a movie that I had, and gave it away without watching it. But I have a soft spot for Terry Crews and Luke Wilson. Crews's full name in the movie is Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.

It is worth the watch. It is very funny and very frustrating (and a little scary) at the same time.

The U.S. House of Representatives is now the House of Representin' and they wear their state seals as giant Flavor Flav-style medallions.

[binaryhermit]

It's almost like some are taking it as an instruction manual instead of a sort of warning...

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

It's almost like some are taking it as an instruction manual instead of a sort of warning...

Hi Tech companies do that all the time with their favourite SF. It's stupid because the SF was mostly entertainment and sometimes a warning. Almost none was written as attempt at futurology. Things that were invented are hugely outnumbered by fantasy ideas, also some of it was self-fulfilment and some was inevitable.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Depends on what you read, I guess. I doubt reading a run-of-the-mill fantasy or mystery novel on eink makes me any stupider than reading the same book on paper. And my reading has been almost exclusively low-brow genre fiction for the past 25 years. So I reckon I'm stupid enough already.

As to internet killing our ability to concentrate, that's certainly true. But it's not because of the screen as such, it's because of the disjointed and irregular way we receive information online, and the constant distractions that go with it.

I doubt the effect, if any, would be insignificant for low-brow genre fiction, too. Possibly for any fiction. And if there's an effect it might be connected to the greater enjoyment some experience reading paper books (tactile input, smell, etc.), which would not be relevant to you, as you prefer e-books anyway.

I think the main difference might be seen for textbooks. I find all extratextual inputs helps. The memory of how I held the book, where on the page I saw the information, how the weight was distributed (eg. having read 100/700 pages), etc etc. In e-book format these external factors are very limited.

I don't fully agree regarding screens, however. For me the constant light shining in my eyes makes it impossible to read anything but shorter texts like these forum posts. I've tried reading novels on a screen, but cannot concentrate for long enough.

The horrible design makes it x100 worse, of course.

[John F]

Originally Posted by kandwo

...

I think the main difference might be seen for textbooks. I find all extratextual inputs helps. The memory of how I held the book, where on the page I saw the information, how the weight was distributed (eg. having read 100/700 pages), etc etc. In e-book format these external factors are very limited.

...

I have to wonder how much of this applies to other people reading ebook textbooks. Personally, most of the textbooks I've seen come in PDF. So the only thing missing be how I held the book and weight distribution. Personally, I have my doubts about weight distribution helping me remeber things.

YMMV