Mediums and Messages

Posted by jesuslewis on August 3rd, 2017

Using technology can affect how we go about cognitively challenging tasks, however. Hyperlinks, browser tabs, app icons, scroll wheels — all of it forces us to act in a certain way and this can impact our thinking. Take the practice of page parking, for example. When undertaking a task that involves many discrete items, whether that be clothes shopping or paper writing, many people will click on a number of pages, open them in different tabs and leave them there for later. It’s a form of external memory that allows us to save important bits of information for later without having to hold it in our minds.

It’s the opposite of multitasking, in a way. Instead of using the computer to try and do many things at once, we’re using it to hold onto a task for us while we do something different. And, this isn’t something that Millennials have an inherent grasp of, it’s knowledge that comes as a result of working with — and not technology.

Kirschner believes that, ultimately, the onus is on us to work more closely with technology. It’s worth remembering that there are people on either side of the devices we use, he says, and we need to adapt the way we present things through them. Whether this means not bombarding co-workers with emails or designing computers that don’t flash notifications at us every 30 seconds, we’ve got some distance to travel before we come into harmony with our machines.

It’s how we’re using technology that does us in, and so-called digital natives are no better at it. This has implications for how we educate younger generations, as well as for companies hoping to hire employees with the kind of digital knowledge that’s quickly become a commodity. Bringing new forms of technology into the classroom might not necessarily help younger kids learn, and, likewise, your new hire won’t have mastered the Adobe Suite just because they’re under 25.

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