Quote:
Originally Posted by Harmon
I have two sons in college. One remarked that he has learned that while reading on the computer, he cannot focus if he's connected to Facebook, because he keeps being "interrupted" by the need to check it. The other has lost his internet connection, and finds that it is easier to study without it.
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But that isn't a fundamental difference in the medium-- it is a difference in the number of possible distractions, and in the volume of material that you can choose from.
There were studies a while back (not sure what key-words you'll need to google them up) that suggested that increasing the number of available choices in anything makes deciding much harder-- you have 3 flavors of ice cream available, and you might in a second decide what one you want-- you have those 3 plus a hundred more, and you might stand there staring at the menu for a half-hour.
It works the same way with deadtree books. You have one book, you can pick it up and read the book. You have a hundred books, and first you have to spend time picking a book-- then something in the book makes you think of something in one of the other books you need to reread, then... Even worse if you have a good set of encyclopedias, dictioaries, and thesaurii (or thesauruseses) around that you can pick up at the drop of a hat to search for a word or concept, which reads to other words and concepts, and other words and concepts... Access to Webster's and Britannica have always (defining "always" as "the time after those type books have been available") been as much of a time-swallowing distraction to the curious-minded as Wikipedia.org and tvtropes.org are today, and just as avoidable by those with the discipline to put them down (someone who isn't me.)