Module 12. Hypermedia and cognition

Recall from Module 1 that a key feature of multimedia (as we have defined it for this course and for the BAMS program) is interactivity, and recall from Module 9 the discussion on hypertext and hypermedia. The utopic vision of the creators of hypertext and the Internet was a system in which all information could be linked in a meaningful way so that one could interact with and explore deeply the expanse of human knowledge. In place of one text isolated from other texts, hypertext was intended to allow the reader to make sense of how one text connects with another through the power of hyperlinks. Challenging existing linear ways of structuring information, hypertext was supposed to empower the user by helping them construct their own understanding of the world.

Digital, networked multimedia has certainly been beneficial to us in many ways. Consider how digital technologies have allowed you to share both puppy videos as well as important information to family friends. Or remember what happened with typhoon Ondoy that hit the Philippines in 2009: microblogging tools like Twitter and Plurk were used to create short updates and save lives. These updates not only alerted rescue units to individuals and families in distress, but they often would appear on the Facebook profile pages of other people. In Unit 3, we discussed how different kinds information are best presented using different media modalities (text, static image, animation, or video) to aid comprehension. Should you finish the BAMS program to completion, you will have discussed many other desirable benefits of digital multimedia products, applications, tools, and artifacts on individuals and on societies.

Does media impact our ability to process information?

However, digital media also has produced unexpected or unwanted side effects. In this module, we will look into the argument that hypermedia has negatively impacted on our cognitive abilities.

As you have just read in Activity 12.1, it has been argued that the structure of information on the Internet has been as overwhelming as it has been empowering. In addition to facilitating deep dives into human knowledge, the way we navigate and interact with the Web can also encourage shallow skimming, as Carr argues in his often-cited 2008 article:

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Properties of digital and hypermedia-based technologies

Carr is suggesting that at least three different properties of digital and hypermedia-based technologies (not just Google!) influence how we consume and process information:

• Searchability: Using search engines, you can easily look for information on any subject on the Web or stored on your digital devices at any time. This means you can afford to forget potentially important information knowing that you can always search for them later: searchability affords forgetting.

• Traversability: Unlike a traditional book, whose contents are limited to the pages within and bounded by the covers, Web pages have hyperlinks that allow you to endlessly traverse the Web. In other words, the endless traversability of the Internet can lead to getting endlessly lost in information.

• Intrusiveness: Digital notifications push information to you, drawing your attention to information that may not be immediately relevant to what you were currently attending to and thus halting your train of thought. The instrusiveness of technology can lead to interrupted thinking.

However, Nicholas Carr is a writer, not a scientist. While his views represent perspectives that seem reasonable, he himself has not rigorously tested his assertions. How valid or widely shared do you think his arguments are? Compare his arguments with the related research discussed in Activity 12.2.

One of the accusations levelled by Carr in his article is that Internet technologies is to be blame for his decreased attention span. However, Korbey reports an interesting view held by Prof. Willingham about technology and its effects on children's attention span:

He isn’t convinced that spending so many hours playing Super Smash Bros will shorten kids’ attention spans, making them unable to sustain the attention to read a book. He’s more concerned that Super Smash Bros has trained kids’ brains to crave experiences that are more like fast-paced video games.

Why is this case? Why would human crave increasingly high-intensity stimulus? One such theory is discussed in Module 13.

Conclusion

As might be apparent to you by now, the impact of digital text on the way we think is complicated. That is to say, technology is probably not "making us stupid", but it is changing the way we attend to stimuli and the way we use our memory. For instance, Prof. Sparrow suggests, that instead of remembering what things are, what we do remember where to look for where things are. This view is consonant with what is called the extended cognition theory, which suggests that our mind is not just in the brain, but is partly stored in the environment, and that the human mind has been continuously co-evolving with the environment for thousands of years. As we will discuss in Unit 5, media have been influencing the way humans think for as long as we have been producing media.

This module was also a lesson in critical reading. When journalists and writers make an argument about the effects of technology on humans, they will often choose research results and soundbites that support their argument. The truth is often more complex, and what scholarly articles and longer-form journalism does is to explore that complexity. What I hope you develop throughout your time in the BAMS program is the ability to consider and write about an issue from multiple perspectives and with depth and nuance.