Infornography

The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive? [New York Times]

This is a very interesting article. I think there may really be something to this; I'd love to research it further for a psychology class. Of course, it's easy to read an article like this and interpret it in a way that fits you (just as you are more likely to imagine having flu-like symptoms if the local media report that there has been an outbreak of SARS), but I wonder if I suffer from this "addiction". (I doubt it is a true addiction, any more than eating high-fat foods is an addiction.) The pervaisive availability of technology has definitely shortened my attention span; if I am coding and get stuck on a problem, it is difficult to resist the urge to just check my email or catch up on my RSS subscriptions.

If nothing else, this article has made me think about my relationship to technology. I really need to work on increasing my attention span and improving my ability to Just Say No to technological distractions.