[EAS] Amazing Ourselves To Death

[pjk]

Mail*Link¨ SMTP               Amazing Ourselves To Death

Dear Colleagues -

I can think of no better way to wish you all the best in 2005 than
by forwarding this item from my friend and colleague Nathan Price.

Happy 2005!  --PJK

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Date: 12/30/04 12:00 PM
From: Nathan Price
Hi all -

Here's an excellent article in the Seattle Times about technology, 
information overload and their effect on our lives.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2004/1128/cover.html

This article was referenced on Slashdot, which is how I found it.
The title  of this email message comes from a Harvard researcher
quoted in the article. He says something that is a clever echo of
Neil Postman's excellent book "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public
Discourse in the Age of  Show Business":

"We have so many options, reward centers that we never had before,"
says John Ratey, who teaches at Harvard and is a psychiatrist
specializing in attention deficit disorder. "I think that's why
we're seeing more of this.  There are more demands on our attention
and less training for us to stop and take it all in. We seem to be
amazing ourselves to death."

Perhaps our first New Year's resolution for 2005 should be to slow
down and be a bit less connected...

I wish you all health and happiness in the New Year.
--Nate