somewhat interesting quickie

As I proofread that last post, I was surfing the internet and came upon this blog post about a book that argues the internet is making people less able to focus.

There is definitely some truth to the argument (I was supposed to be focused on proofreading that wedding planning post but instead was surfing the web and came upon that post about surfing the web making us less focused.) But I'll say this: if it wasn't the internet, it would be something else. I didn't have internet in my apartment during my first year of law school, so instead I learned how to play guitar in-between my 50 nightly games of Hearts.

But I do think technology makes it worse. I don't think Anna Karenina would be 1,000+ pages if Tolstoy was trying to write it in present day Moscow. It'd be a short story. Or maybe it would be a blog where he's Levin just rambling about his desires or lack thereof. (Or maybe it would still be 1,000 pages, but then War and Peace would have never been written.)

I blame it a little more on TV. Having a remote control made it so that I could constantly keep myself stimulated when I was a kid. I would even flip channels during a program I was watching. To this day, I can't pick up the remote control at my parents' house without my mom saying, "Oh no, get the remote away from Cyrus."

While watching TV, my mom always put the remote control on the coffee table, whereas I kept it constantly aimed at the screen (even if I was watching a movie.) (I have started to change though.)

But what made me read less was my high school English curriculum. I used read a lot when I was kid, but then I started high school and was forced to read stuff like Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatspy and Lord of the Flies. That kind of literature made me dislike reading.

I was 14 years old, I was listening to Ice Cube and masturbating to pictures of Daisy Fuentes, I wasn't ready for F. Scott Fitzgerald's dense prose about the complications of adult love. (I may never be ready for it.) I couldn't even read the Cliff's notes for most of the high school curriculum. I remember I used to ask the person sitting in front of me to give me a 30 second plot summary of the book as our in-class essay topics were being passed out.

Even as I was typing this post, I was interrupted because I forgot I had a Field Day meeting and Ponce showed up at my door. I guess the more people try to do, the less they can focus on a single thing. (By the way, if anyone reading this is interested in participating in Field Day, let me know. I'm not very good about spreading the word. We just opened registration, and you probably need to let me know soon because last year we filled up in about a week.)

I read a 1,000+ page book last year and I couldn't believe that a person was able to sit down and write the entire thing -- and then I learned that he wrote the book in prison. (the book was pretty good, but it could have easily been 200 pages shorter.)

(I wrote this post yesterday, but thought it was weird to post two things in one day.)