Internet and Mobiles and expanding knowledge!

After 30 years of focussing on the narrow confines of education,  it is fantastic to have the time to gain a wider knowledge of the world.  The time to read newspapers thoroughly, to subscribe to magazines, to discuss world events and politics and to undertake courses.

Of course, much of the acquiring of this wider knowledge is made possible through access to the internet, sitting in the comfort of my home, and mostly free too.

The courses that I have undertaken through www.coursera.og have been fantastic, quite demanding in their assessments, but so interesting.  The most recent course, which I am about to finish this week, is titled 'Understanding media by understanding Google'.  It has involved weekly readings, lectures, a quiz, a piece of writing, and peer assessment of the previous weeks writing.

As I used the internet so much, and had previously completed a course on internet history and technology, I was immediately keen to continue learning in this area.  And Google is such a fascinating subject, being that it dominates our internet lives, especially those of us that have gone down the Android route.

So far we have covered the impact on media, Google news, Google books, advertising, Youtube,  mobiles and this week it will be social media and privacy.  Fascinating.  So much has happened in the last fifteen years.  It is difficult to imagine life without the Web, smart phones, tablets, Youtube, and for most of us, Facebook.

And on the final note, it has changed the way we read, and learn.  All that skimming, scanning, browsing has meant indepth reading and studying is much more difficult.  It is good to know that the reason why I find sustained reading difficult is due to my mobile and internet use and not due to advancing age.

An interesting video to watch on Youtube - Joe Kraus "Slow Tech" (TED Talk)