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The end of absence: reclaiming what we've lost in a world of constant connection

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York Current 2014Description: viii, 243 pISBN:
  • 9781591846932
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 302.231 H2E6
Summary: “Every revolution in communication technology—from papyrus to the printing press to Twitter—is as much an opportunity to be drawn away from something as it is to be drawn toward something. And yet, as we embrace technology’s gifts, we usually fail to consider what we’re giving up in the process. Why would we bother to register the end of solitude, of ignorance, of lack? Why would we care that an absence had disappeared?” Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the Internet. What does this unavoidable fact mean? For future generations, it won’t mean anything very obvious. They will be so immersed in online life that questions about the Internet’s basic purpose or meaning will vanish. But those of us who have lived both with and without the crowded connectivity of online life have a rare opportunity. We can still recognize the difference between Before and After. We catch ourselves idly reaching for our phones at the bus stop. Or we notice how, mid-conversation, a fumbling friend dives into the perfect recall of Google. (http://www.penguin.com/book/the-end-of-absence-by-michael-harris/9781591846932)
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Item type Current library Item location Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Vikram Sarabhai Library Rack 9-B / Slot 313 (0 Floor, West Wing) Non-fiction General Stacks 302.231 H2E6 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 188236

“Every revolution in communication technology—from papyrus to the printing press to Twitter—is as much an opportunity to be drawn away from something as it is to be drawn toward something. And yet, as we embrace technology’s gifts, we usually fail to consider what we’re giving up in the process. Why would we bother to register the end of solitude, of ignorance, of lack? Why would we care that an absence had disappeared?”
Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the Internet. What does this unavoidable fact mean?
For future generations, it won’t mean anything very obvious. They will be so immersed in online life that questions about the Internet’s basic purpose or meaning will vanish.
But those of us who have lived both with and without the crowded connectivity of online life have a rare opportunity. We can still recognize the difference between Before and After. We catch ourselves idly reaching for our phones at the bus stop. Or we notice how, mid-conversation, a fumbling friend dives into the perfect recall of Google.
(http://www.penguin.com/book/the-end-of-absence-by-michael-harris/9781591846932)

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