Wednesday 21 January 2009

Data Overload and the need for screens





I've come across two interesting reports in the last day.

The first is one from the charity Childwise that suggests young people now prefer their computer screens to those of their TVs. And what's more, when asked what object they could not live without, a majority now cite their computer. 

The average 5-16 year old now spends 6 hours a day in front of a PC screen.

All of this points to a major cultural shift taking place, as work/leisure boundaries blur. 

Young people now consider interactive communication to be a cornerstone of their daily social activities. Whether it be watchin YouTube videos, making content to upload, reading/writing a blog, sharing information or photos, the current generation consider the sit-back system of traditional TV consumption to be passé. 

You can read about the report here.

The second is a posting on a BBC blog by the technology writer Bill Thompson, who notes how a tendency to keep too many communication apps open on his computer is making it impossible to get any proper work done. Read it, empathise, then let someone else know about your frustrations on Twitter. 

2 comments:

_we_the_pieces_ said...

It is true... we do spend sooo much time on the computer. It beats TV, you can get TV on the computer. Plus it's a super-fast way to communicate with a lot of your friends.
I should probably cut back on my computer time.....

Jerome.cant@gmail.com said...

What you must remember is that we are coming into a day and age where computers are becoming a integral part of everyone's life.
The use of a computer has become easier and with eh introduction of broadband, a faster internet makes foe easier access to computing skills. In my opinion the computer is a more interactive and informative way of passing free time, I have found myself watching virtually no TV over the holiday, why? Because I now find it boring, there is choice of what to watch, but not much and it is not spread out well, offer with two programmes clashing. at least on facebook or msn people are building social skills and being active. Tv I is statistically proven to make the individual depresses, with the people on TV being on average ether: more intelligent, more attractive, richer, more powerful, more successful that the person watching the TV, then during the adverts the individual is made to feel incomplete if they do not have that certain product and that product and the advert makes it seem like a necessity. in light of this is TV as harmless as it seems, and is computers and gaming a better alternative?


On a side note, an interesting thought:
In the workplace now most people use a computer at their desk, yet schools is still meandering on the pen and paper side of things? Why is this?

Would it be possible to convert school over to computers? Would we each have a personnel notebook, and hand documents in via email?

Sorry for the essay, got a bit carried away..........