Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!oddjob!hao!ames!oliveb!felix!dhw68k!doug
From: doug@dhw68k.cts.com (Doug Salot)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Living in the 20th C
Message-ID: <5587@dhw68k.cts.com>
Date: 4 Mar 88 05:48:16 GMT
References: <1880@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: doug@dhw68k.cts.com (Doug Salot)
Organization: Wolfskill residence; Anaheim, CA (USA)
Lines: 46

In article <1880@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> tom@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Thomas C Hajdu) writes:
>
>In general, I've been noticing that I am changing the modes by
>which I communicate. For example, when I want to 
>find out about something, reading feels less
>comfortable than does watching tv. 
>I get the sense that reading is less vital and available than it
>seems to have been in the past, while the availability of tv seems to 
>be constantly increasing. Even the act of writing these feelings
>down seems inappropriate -- negating the experience that I am trying to 
>describe. [other examples of slipping into a fast, montage-like world]

I found myself reflecting on similar notions recently.  For me, the
need for instantaneous access to lots of information is a biological
drive.  Since I was born in the sixties, I have no way of knowing if
things were really any different, but my lifetime has been characterized
by breadth rather than depth (education = liberal arts, interdisciplinary
science is in vogue, TV news and USA TODAY, businesses drive toward
diversification, &c), and SPEED is virtually a pagan god (just try to
find counter-examples (well, besides sex)).

While this discussion probably belongs in soc.iology, these drives
are very influential on my cognition and often my physiology.  I'm
always trying to buck the trend of losing interest in something once
I've discovered its "essence" (this can put a real burden on
relationships), and I become very nervous when I
have to wait or if I have to solve a problem all the way through to
the nit level.  I strive toward the quickest solution to something
even if it's detrimental (like eating dinner in a couple of
nanoseconds).  I'd love to slow down, but I'm a victim of society!

From a physiological standpoint, I'm a mess; economically, quality
has suffered, long-term research has suffered, global markets are
panic driven; socially, we do things like post netnews articles
instead of breaking bread together; politically, we have pigmies
trying to act like giants.  "Form over function" is the slogan
for the eighties.

I'm sorry I had to subject you to this, but it was easier than
thinking.

- Doug
-- 
Doug "" Salot = doug@dhw86k.cts.com = {trwrb,hplabs}!felix!dhw68k!feedme!doug
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