The Big Idea: The internet as a distraction machine

http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/14/the-big-idea-the-internet-as-a-distraction-machine/?hpt=Sbin

New York Times writer David Carr was walking down a street in Austin, Texas, with his wife when he saw actor Rainn Wilson pop up wearing a superhero costume.

His first instinct: I have to tweet about this.

“I didn’t engage with her about it. It was like how quickly can I get away and tweet this,” he said at a panel discussion on online distraction at South by Southwest Interactive on Monday. “I didn’t want to discuss it with her - I just wanted to tweet it out.”

Carr’s panel discussion, called “I’m so productive I never get anything done,” essentially turned into a self-help group for the plugged-in bloggers, live tweeters, life streamers and mobile developers at this quirky technology conference here.

There was no consensus on whether or the not the internet is making our lives worse, but there was a general sense in the overflowing room that people who use the internet constantly need to unplug once in a while – out of respect for each other if nothing else.

“When people are out and they’re amongst other people they need to just put everything down,” said Anthony De Rosa, who works for Reuters and runs a popular blog called SoupSoup on Tumblr. “It’s fine when you’re at home or at work when you’re distracted by things, but we need to give that respect to each other back.”

Carr wondered aloud whether SXSW has turned into a conference of people who are in close proximity but who never speak because they’re too busy tapping on their phones.

We’re “alone together,” he said.

Molly McAleer, an internet personality who goes by “molls” and who spends 18 hours a day in front of a computer, said she actually gets annoyed with people who try to talk to her while she’s starting into the screen of her smartphone.

“I’m like, ‘Why are you trying to have a conversation with me when I’m reading?’”

Several panel attendees stepped up to the microphone to reveal similarly self-aware and sort-of embarrassing details about their oversaturated digital lives.

One woman said she can’t stop checking her smartphone while her she’s watching her kids at the playground. She asked the panel for advice.

“I’m horrible about that,” Carr said.

“I do that to my dog,” said McAleer.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic, offered a sort of antidote to the overall woe-is-the-Web theme of the discussion.

The internet is only distracting if you give into it, he said.

“I’m not being anti-tech or anything like that but I don’t have too much trouble cutting it off - not when I think about it,” he said.