I have become cyborg.

It's a strange feeling to have spent so much time indoors tapping into cyberspace on so many consecutive sunny summer days. Between my two distance-learning MLIS classes and my online editing job, it feels like I'm constantly typing, clicking, scanning, and linking. Even on the last couple of days when I've sat outside to read, my reading material has been Discovering Computers, which makes me feel like I'm online.

I do believe that all this connectivity is affecting the way I think, as well. The more technology evolves, the more it infiltrates our own malleable brains. It's part enhancement, part infestation, part mystery. I read a really interesting article about this phenomenon today:

What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

I can feel the phenomena discussed in the article: I sometimes rely on silicon memory as much as my own; often my concentration doesn't feel as intense as it once might have been; multitasking is a way of life. In casual conversation, when near my laptop, I'm wont to say things like, "That reminds me of... wait, who was the 'reciprocal altruism' guy? ... [Quickly googling "reciprocal altruism" author] ... right, Robert Trivers!" And although I'm glad for the memory boost, I'm unlikely to read a whole article that turns up. But I truly appreciate that I have the option to read not just one but 137,000 pages that pop up instantly!

I'll end this post by embedding my favorite music video, which has everything to do with the way information and technology are saturating our lives today.



(Royksopp: Remind Me)

An interim blog, perhaps

I created a blog a few days ago, but now I find it locked and inaccessible until the webmasters complete a review of it in order to determine that it's not a "spam blog." Am I entitled to feel vaguely insulted? Meh.

Rather than attempt to recreate my initial musings on technology and MLIS 2600, I'll either re-post them here when I'm allowed to access my own blog again (grumble), or simply call this lesser entry my first blog post and lay my former blog, the optimistically titled "Information Celebration Station," to rest.

In either case, I do look forward to this journey!