How the Internet is Forcing Us to Readjust

How is the Internet going to force us to readjust?  Certainly in ways that we can’t yet guess because these are early days for the Internet and just as certainly in ways that we’re beginning to get a glimmering of. 

We carry devices around in our pockets.  We may be flirting with the idea of wearing virtual reality glasses that will give us the information, yet another channel of information, as we walk down the street. It will be something from our portable computer telling us, reminding us, of the name of the person who’s approaching.  

We already, I think, are familiar with this syndrome of being at a dinner party and hearing an argument break out about who was the star of that movie five years ago where such and such happened. 

And if you’re like me, you feel a little twitch.  You reach for the device in your pocket because you know that even if you don’t know the answer, the answer is a thumb’s length away.  That changes us.  It makes the conversation seem pointless, boring. So choose your poison.

60 Second Reads is recorded in Big Think’s studio.

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