Did you know 2.0 – Shift Happens

A new presentation about how the internet changes our world.

Get invites to Web 2.0 betas

Want to try out new stuff like Pownce but can’t seem to get hold of an invitation? Here’s the solution for you:

It’s a fairly simple service, but does the job perfectly. Go to the site and register. Then browse the various betas that are being serviced – pownce, spock, myskitch, mint, etc. and add your name to the list. One thing this service does lack, however, is About links for each of the services. So if you want to be adventurous and try something you don’t know, you might end up rating pet pictures or something.

The Jet Set show

These guys ‘n gals are well in tune with what’s going on online, and they present it in a weekly five-minute film. Here’s this week’s:

You can also check out their website.

People and their avatars

Threading onto yesterday’s video that, amongst other things, predicted everyone would soon have an extensive virtual life, here is a collection of real life people and their online avatars. Am I the only one who feels like he’s peeking into their soul?

 Thanks to Connected Internet and the New York Times, the latter set to disappear but still doing a good job

Multitasking: The next step in human evolution?

My parents used to say ‘You can’t do two things at the same time’! These days, you just can’t keep up if you don’t do more than one thing at a time. The amount of information we digest daily is enormous. Apparently, the daily paper contains more information than the average 18^th century person would encounter in a lifetime! With an average lunch break of 17 minutes, our jobs are becoming increasingly demanding on different aspects of our attention.

Our behavior has changed

Most of us love to complain about our busy lives. But let’s face it: we love it! Our behavior has progressively changed in intensity since only a decennium ago: today it’s only normal to simultaneously watch TV and surf the Net, to conduct meetings over the phone while putting the kids to bed, to check our mails from the toilet… We are multitasking more and more. Especially teenagers are great multitaskers: they chat, surf, listen to and download music and play games at the same time, with the TV playing in the background.

The more we have to do, the more efficient we become in doing it. According to a 2006 study by Yahoo! and OMD, most teenagers now live a 43-hour day filled with more than 16 hours of interaction with media and technology. MTV, meanwhile, in a 2005 study, says the “normal” day lasts 32 hours, with 6.5 hours devoted to various media.

Another interesting trend is media meshing. It’s described as a behavioral phenomenon that occurs when people begin an experience in one medium, such as watching television, then shift to another, such as surfing the Internet, and maybe even a third, such as listening to music. The explanation for this behavior is the constant search for complementary information, different perspectives, and even emotional fulfillment.

Our devices are changing

To accommodate this new multitasking society, the creation of entirely new devices is growing fast. Companies like Nokia or Apple (with their iPhone) are releasing phones that are also cameras, video recorders, MP3 players, FM radios, gaming stations, IM stations and web browsers all rolled into one device.

Multitasking with the internet

The internet is especially apt for multitasking, as you can often pause whatever you’re doing, redirect your attention and then come back. According to figures released by eMarketer, around 66 per cent of American adult internet users claim to watch television while they are on the internet. Around 90 million consumers were reported to listen to the radio while online, while 50 million people said they also read magazines while browsing the internet. The study also claims that around 25-30 per cent of consumers’ total media time is spent multitasking.

Multitasking is the devil!

Some authors warn against the effects of multitasking. When multitasking, one apparently uses different parts of the brain, according to some reducing activity in both regions. Multitasking is actually something that allows animals to escape from life-threatening situations, by overstimulating different parts of the brain and creating a state of heightened adrenaline. Prolonged multitasking, however, could lead to sleep loss, depression and anxiety. Multitasking would not only lower efficiency and create errors in the tasks performed, but also compromise memory, cause back pain, give people flu and indigestion, and even hurt teeth and gums. Wow.

Is multitasking the next step in our evolution?

Does that mean we humans will never become natural multitaskers? Will we ever be able to drive and make a call at the same time without causing accidents (on the road or in the conversation)? Looking at the Z generation (15 to 24 years old), I can easily imagine a society where a complete split of attention between different tasks is just common sense.