Cathy Davidson offers a reasonably cogent response to a ridiculous NY Times editorial called The Twitter Trap by making the point that the impact of a technology is not caused solely by the technology, but also, and more importantly, what we do with it. There isn't the sort of inevitability that seems to be presumed by statements like "Twitter makes us stupid" and when the Times writer, Bill Keller, opines "My own anxiety is less about the cerebrum than about the soul," Davidson rejoins, "I can only imagine an executive of his stature snickering with derision remembering how so-called 'primitive people' said exactly the same thing about photography." And though I wish she had avoided the Clinton-era platitude, the more general point is made forcefully and well:
"The brain doesn't power itself and it doesn't power us. The brain R us. That is, what we experience our brain experiences. If we give it a steady diet of junk food or alcohol or Ritalin, it changes. If we give it a steady stream of 'Jersey Shore,' that's what it learns. If we give it a steady diet of item-response multiple choice testing (the ridiculous form of testing which, we know, does nothing except prepare students to do well on that particular form of testing), it learns how to think like those tests. If we inspire ourselves to curiosity, expose ourselves to challenges and then succeed and reinforce our ability to take challenges, our brain learns how to extrapolate from challenges. And if we spend all day on line doing idiotic things, then, well, that is what we learn how to do well---spending all day on line doing idiotic things. We are what we do. Our brain is what it does."
"The brain doesn't power itself and it doesn't power us. The brain R us. That is, what we experience our brain experiences. If we give it a steady diet of junk food or alcohol or Ritalin, it changes. If we give it a steady stream of 'Jersey Shore,' that's what it learns. If we give it a steady diet of item-response multiple choice testing (the ridiculous form of testing which, we know, does nothing except prepare students to do well on that particular form of testing), it learns how to think like those tests. If we inspire ourselves to curiosity, expose ourselves to challenges and then succeed and reinforce our ability to take challenges, our brain learns how to extrapolate from challenges. And if we spend all day on line doing idiotic things, then, well, that is what we learn how to do well---spending all day on line doing idiotic things. We are what we do. Our brain is what it does." Today: 1 Total: 16 [Direct link] [Share]
