Cognitive Surplus Reflection

I have to admit that upon first learning the definition of cognitive surplus, basically what people do with their time and brainpower outside of sleep and work, I found the concept quite ironically comical.  The notion is that as society has advanced to a point where we do not need to work every hour of every day and have thus created a society based on 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and the other 8 hours are our cognitive surplus.  My life currently features a job where the 40 hour work week is more like 60 or more, a graduate level college course, 4 children one at that age where any moment you are not entertaining her will result in twice that time to clean up the mess she’s made while you try to do something else, etc., etc.  I truly feel like I’m running a cognitive deficit! However, while I might disagree with the quantity of time, there certainly are free choice moments for all of us.

            The author’s focus in the beginning is in how that free time is spent has changed quickly, radically, and for the most part (from the author’s point of view) for the better.  For many years, that free time was dominated by television.  Television and its output only mode were what people devoted their cognitive surplus towards.  Television created a generation of consumers of what was given to them, first from a small group of networks, and later from an ever growing list of channels.  This was a “receive only” medium, where the user had no interaction with or through the medium and very little reaction to those around them.

            The internet changed that, but even that change was gradual.  At first, even the internet was just another source through which people were served information.  Yes, it was more varied and less controlled than previous media outlets such as TV, radio, and major newspapers, but it was still mostly information to consume.  However, the Web 2.0 revolution has made the internet interactive.  An internet user no longer just consumes information, but interacts with and even produces new information.  Making and sharing new products and information is an integral part of the world online.  The internet has thrown off the yoke of those who controlled the information, decided what we wanted and needed to hear, and decided what was of good enough quality for us to receive.  It also has opened up a whole new world for many….that of the contributor.

            The author makes a strong case that the internet has created a huge positive outlet for people’s free time.  Yes, time can be frittered away easily and pointlessly, but many great things have happened using the net with people donating their cognitive surplus towards many positive projects.  While he cites many of these positive cases, he also points to blurred lines it has created between labor and labor-of-love. While there are far more points in the book, I’d prefer to steer my reflection back to education as those same lines (between labor and labor-of-love) are constantly blurred for educators. All educators devote the required hours each week as prescribed by their “job.”  However, many, if not most, educators devote countless more hours thus making up the labor-of-love part.  Many teachers devote much of their cognitive surplus to their students in one way shape or form.

            Shirkey’s book has many more connections to education.  As one of the many people advocating the promotion of technology integration to education, I’ve heard all the lines about how technology is creating a less personable youth.  “Young people can’t even communicate face to face.  They will text someone sitting right next to them.”  “Kids are losing the ability to make personal connections as their friends are all online.”  These sayings could go on and on.  However, Shirkey makes a powerful argument on page 38. 

People concerned about digital media often worry about the decay of face-to-face contact, but in Seoul the most wired (and wireless) place on earth, the effect was just the opposite.  Digital tools were critical to coordinating human contact and real-world activity.  (Shirkey, pg 38)

Online is part of the real-world and interactions there are just are real as interactions face-to-face, and far more real than any interaction anyone ever had with a TV.  Yes, it is different and sometimes hard for those of us who grew up differently to appreciate, but these connections are still real.  It is time to stop minimizing these connections and begin to foster them and participate in them in some fashion if we are going to connect with the young people of today.

            Another interesting thought I had relating the book to education is the connection between older teaching methods and television.  Teaching and learning used to often be done in a “sit and get” format.  The teacher presents the information, the student takes it in and then tries to repeat it back to the teacher keeping it as close as possible to the original message.  This is strikingly similar to TV where a person is supposed to “sit and get” the message.  The only difference is TV wasn’t designed to give the information back to anyone.  As the internet has changed the way people interact with information, it makes more sense why students seem to increasingly struggle with this older method of teaching.  They don’t want to sit and get.  They want to interact with and be part of the information.  They want to talk to others, create, share, and have a part with the information.  I even see this develop in kids as they age.  Younger students, who often are not online as often yet, are less likely to demand these newer activities, but older students (even much older ones as myself) are starting to expect and almost demand a seat at the table rather than just being fed what someone else decides to feed them.

            I thought the story the author chose to close the book with was particularly apt for those of us charged with teaching the newest generation.  Like the little girl, our students will likely be searching for the mouse.  Maybe we can find a way to help kids find learning to be their labor of love and thus deserving of their cognitive surplus.