the sleeper curve (was Re: NP Emails 'pose threat to IQ')

[Paul Mackin]

On Sat, 2005-04-23 at 20:52 -0700, Dave Monroe wrote:
> Me no get this ...
> 
> --- Otto <ottosell at yahoo.de> wrote:
> > Emails 'pose threat to IQ'
> > 
> > Martin Wainwright, Friday April 22, 2005, The
> > Guardian
> > 
> > The distractions of constant emails, text and phone
> > messages are a greater threat to IQ and
> > concentration than taking cannabis, according to a
> > survey of befuddled volunteers....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/24TV.html?incamp=article_popular_5&pagewanted=all&position=

"Consider the cognitive demands that televised narratives place on their
viewers. With many shows that we associate with ''quality''
entertainment -- ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' ''Murphy Brown,''
''Frasier'' -- the intelligence arrives fully formed in the words and
actions of the characters on-screen. They say witty things to one
another and avoid lapsing into tired sitcom cliches, and we smile along
in our living rooms, enjoying the company of these smart people. But
assuming we're bright enough to understand the sentences they're saying,
there's no intellectual labor involved in enjoying the show as a viewer.
You no more challenge your mind by watching these intelligent shows than
you challenge your body watching ''Monday Night Football.'' The
intellectual work is happening on-screen, not off.

"But another kind of televised intelligence is on the rise. Think of the
cognitive benefits conventionally ascribed to reading: attention,
patience, retention, the parsing of narrative threads. Over the last
half-century, programming on TV has increased the demands it places on
precisely these mental faculties. This growing complexity involves three
primary elements: multiple threading, flashing arrows and social
networks."