The Web Shatters Focus

 

General Culture

The following is just part of why this article is a must read: “In a study published in the journal Media Psychology, researchers had more than 100 volunteers watch a presentation about the country of Mali, played through a Web browser. Some watched a text-only version. Others watched a version that incorporated video. Afterward, the subjects were quizzed on the material. Compared to the multimedia viewers, the text-only viewers answered significantly more questions correctly; they also found the presentation to be more interesting, more educational, more understandable, and more enjoyable.” The irony, of course, is that the online version has lots of links in the text - which will probably do exactly what the author is worried about.