On Fri, 2003-12-05 at 10:01, Christine Murray wrote:
> But I find all students suffering to some degree by being overwhelmed
by
> constant innundation from various forms of media: suffering from
barrage of
> information and demands of their consciousness in terms of time and
> distraction. It is as if they are intellectually torn in too many
> directions and have, like deer in headlights, simply frozen their
thinking
> in one (however precarious) place, incapable, then, of moving out of
that
> mental freeze. It's an interesting trend to study right now: what
does
> being overwhelmed by information do to a person's ability to be
curious?
> That's one way of framing the question, anyway.
This is what I have been thinking about recently. Information
as control. I am more inclined to approach this from the affect
theories of Silvan Tomkins and his freedom of affect where freedom is
needed for control. In this way information, as giving form and as
representation, would not be a redundancy which would not be a question
and can instead be understood in terms of control in a complexity (or
the more popular term cybernetic) system.
If lack of control is a lack of freedom and a redundancy as Tomkins
also argues, then it becomes a question of control itself. A
different media analysis can follow from this where the barrage of
media images is able to be understood quite differently to that which
has a currency in Media and Cultural Studies as understanding media
representations as redundant.
I have only been on campus a few times a year in the past few years
but I have noticed that the undergrad students seem to be withdrawn,
cringe and walk slumped over as if in some sort of fear and if you stop
one of them to ask directions they look like they are going to have an
anxiety attack. But I did get cruised a couple of times while looking
for books in the French literature section of the university library.
Good to see this section of university libraries are still a gay
pick up point... some things never change?
The problem with today's teenagers: no sense of irresponsibility.
best wishes
Chris Jones.
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Chris Jones <[log in to unmask]>
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