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Wednesday
Dec092009
How Twitter is Rewiring My Brain - and Maybe Yours
Young Urban Professional
These days - perhaps a function of my lifestyle - the mobile device is becoming my primary content reading and browsing tool. This is slowly changing my habits and I wonder if this is part of a larger trend. With the advent of Twitter lists, I find myself dipping in and out of the stream to catch up not only on news but blog posts from friends and companies whose products and services I use or have more than a passing interest. However the changes in how I interact with media go deeper than news. I am an avid reader. Each year I read several dozen books - exclusively nonfiction (call me boring, it's ok).
Where I used to finish one book before picking up the next, nowadays, I keep a virtual shelf of books on my iPhone and dip in and out in Twitter-like bursts of time. This could never work for fiction but it suits me fine.So Twitter is definitely reconditioning this 40-year-old toward a new way of living. How about you?
Reader Comments (24)
I think therefore I tweet. My media consumption is changing from day to day though, very flexible.
Twitter, Identi.ca, Friendfeed, Facebook, Google Reader (and my iPod Touch) are definitivey reconditioning also a 46-years-old brain (i.e. mine) ...
Not really, brain still feels the same :). I use twitter while I am at home, but not on my mobile phone for instance. That way I am not online all the time. But I do read a couple of books at once, or rather channelsurf between them sort of. But that's because I usually read 1 fiction and non-fiction books at the same time.
This transformation can happen to 53-y-o brains, too. Tech continues to lead me to habits I could not imagine, even when I first witnessed them. 20+ years ago, seeing my first commuter train passenger using a laptop and cell phone, I said to myself, "Please don't ever let me get THAT connected." Now I'm reading newspaper content on a smartphone after being incapable of imagining doing so on a small screen. Books in that environment, I'm not so sure, but given my own history...?
Twitter is also helping me think constantly...being accessible to new bits of information constantly, my mind continues to absorb, process, create connections and juxtapose new ideas. It's helping me to think in new and different ways.
Like you I am reading several Kindle books on my iPhone.
Yes. It's true Steve. Unfortunately, my brain is getting rewired. My attention span has - hey look a squirrel!
Twitter has definitely rewired my workflow. It supports how my brain is already conditioned. It is easier for me to digest information in bits and at times I choose, when I am open to process the information. For example, being able to search my lists based on what I need or want at any moment is helping me to retain so much more info from what I read, be it Twitter or from my library stored on my iPhone.
Works for fiction, too. Often read up to 5 fictional books with stanza on my iphone, sometimes one is added, sometimes one gets dropped (uncompleted if boring).
We see, hear, taste, feel and think normally also in real time, now are just some more channels added, like Twitter-feeds and other news feeds, image streams, the reinterpretation of information and the filtering with the new and old channels and contribution of new information to the web, that is just one big chaotic and still somehow structured process of being in an info wonderland. We can expect a lot of that..
I agree, I find myself also absorbing more content through my iPhone, and even find it sometimes much easier than opening up my computer and then a browser, just to check email or do a quick piece of research. Though I haven't gotten comfortable enough to try to read a book on the iPhone, because of the size... But I am warming up to the idea :-)
I suppose it is also a "sign of times" that someone reading only several dozen books a year is considered "an avid reader". I wonder if twittering and other social media will cause us to revert to a pre-literate age? "Pre-literate" in the sense of reading published literature, not in the sense of being unable to read or write.
Steve, I think you are right on here, and get at something that has been overlooked: the iPhone is the single biggest influencer in how media will be consumed and generated. It is having profound effects on big media companies as it changes the way we consume these streams. Twitter/Facebook are really just a means, but the iPhone by changing the way we consume media, has been the biggest factor in the share prices of the NYT etc. Big media will get smaller in market cap and screen size before it can get big again--the iPhone (and other devices) could be the key in understanding this equation as it will be the predominant medium.
I've read fiction that way for years--I usually have about 3 books going at the same time: one for the book club I'm in, the other two (or more) for my own enjoyment. So no, it hasn't changed things for me. If you think about it, you did this in college when taking multiple courses that required reading (or at least I did, some of my classes required upwards of 5 books for a 10-week trimester, with 3 or 4 classes, I was at times reading or reviewing content in 8 or 10 books).Is it different now? Yes and no. I still think the lack of a true focus presents more of a problem in the long run; I'm not so sure that "Twitter-like bursts" is an advancement.Interesting observation though!
Interesting. Twitter hasn't affected my leisure reading as such (and perhaps that's the difference between reading fiction vs non-fiction; one lends itself to that ability a bit more readily) but it—and Google Reader—have certainly affected my consumption habits. Some days it seems, I can't read more than a paragraph of content without wanting to skip to the next article.BTW, Jeff and the squirrel comment—thanks for the laugh!
I forgot to mention that I skip around in books as well.
You must be a genius if you have The Creative Habit on your book list. One of the most influential books I have ever read.
Leaving the twitter part aside and focusing on the phone as a primary computer argument; I am right there with you. I know you have been writing about this transition for some time now and I must say I am experiencing similar things. The phone is becoming my go to computer more and more each week it seems. It becomes particularly apparent when I find myself sitting on the couch reading tweets, checking fbook, or browsing the web while I am no more than 5 feet away from my 3 monitor super computer with ergo chair. The phone is just easier.
this new paradigm shift in social awareness infect us all and has the power to make us more aware of who we know and how we know them
Twitter is the ultimate in multi-tasking relationships and no one is better at this than my teen-aged daughter. Between hand-held texting, tweets and facebook, her brain handles an incredible volume of concurrent stimulation. She has developed the skill to keep it all straight - as have most young people. It is remarkable how these technological changes impact our human relationships.
Hi Steve,What is this great book app you have on your Iphone?
The Amazon Kindle app for the iPhone.
I definitely think that twitter and mobile devices are changing the way we communicate and digest information. I'm excited to see what happens in the future.
I'm glad you said this. I also read many non-fiction books throughout the year and have found myself reading anywhere from 3 to 5 at a time. My wife thinks I'm completely nuts!Now, I don't feel quite alone.Yes, Twitter, RSS, Blogs, everything we consume shorthand and in small bursts is seemingly leading to a new consumption habit for me.