I could only wag my head and chuckle sadly as I deleted the email notification of a new comment on one of Chad’s posts. Looking ahead, I sa
That was 140 characters, so I need not continue. The Twitteritis epidemic that is sweeping the web prevents many readers from extending their attention beyond that point, requiring them to either comment or move on without further ado. But for those of us who are not yet infected, I’ll go on:
w that Chad had already responded, and I could guess the tenor of his reply. I was expecting something along the lines of “Did you even read my post?” Instead, he surprised me with his gentle reiteration and quotation of the relevant passage. Of all the times I’ve chided Chad for being harsh on commenters, this time it would have been deserved.
The article in question concerned Chad’s search for an implementation non-specific web framework for Scheme. He specifically mentioned that the only web frameworks that he had encountered worked only with PLT Scheme, while Chad uses Ypsilon Scheme. Yet the commenter (aaron) asked, “Is PLT Scheme’s web framework not fitting your requirements?”
I chalk it up to Twitteritis: Chad’s post starts with a link to yours truly (thanks, Chad) and a discussion of the Lisp web framework to which I had linked. Then Chad expresses a desire for something similar for Scheme. He doesn’t get around to discussing the non-portability of the PLT Scheme web frameworks until around character 2228, well beyond the input buffer size of someone suffering from CUT (Communications Uptake Truncation, aka Twitteritis). No doubt aaron stretched his powers to their limits just to get to the mention of Scheme at character 1619 before he felt compelled to reply.
This happens over and over again. Netizens are too hurried, overloaded, or simply lacking in the ability to process details before they must act. They flit about from site to site in the brave new web of constant novel stimulation, and they probably view those of us who spend more than ten seconds on the same page as the new Philistines.
Dr. Tracy Alloway of the University of Stirling in Scotland finds that short attention span activities like Twitter, texting, and watching YouTube fail to exercise working memory, a key component for success in life. Games like Sudoku, on the other hand, require the participant to hold more information in working memory and coordinate that information to plan their next moves – thus building strength in that area over time. She also found that keeping up with friends on Facebook has a beneficial effect on working memory. To me, Facebook updates seem similar to Twitter – but I’ll admit I’ve had to work my brain pretty hard on several occasions trying to remember someone from my past whom I had taken great pains to forget.
If you read this post up to this point, congratulations – you don’t have Twitteritis. Yet.
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