MESH

The MESH web conference is currently running in Toronto. The conference explores the confluence of the social sciences and technology - the how's, but's and why's of our combustively complex relationship with the int0rnets.

Being relatively new to the web in any professional sense, I find myself entralled by the attendees themselves.
What first struck me at the MESH conference?

About 70% of the audience is on their laptops.

To clarify: they aren't all journalists. Some, yes. Not all. And a quick glimpse around confirms that they are all clearly multi-tasking. One man in front of me was supplementing the lecture with:

playing Yoshi's Island

lurking on Facebook

blogging

checking email

checking the MESH schedule

This is a complex relationship indeed.

I'm not mentioning this as an sort of disdainful aside. On the contrary, this is a group of peole who clearly love the internet. They navigate it as naturally as if it were a part of their breathing patters - without skipping a beat. They learn and do in perfect harmony.

And then, one of the lectures today proposed this question:
Are we becoming a generation of grazers? Is the sheer scope of the web undermining our ability to 'go deep'?

I won't pretend to judge the intellectual rigours of the webgen. I am part of it. It's my livelihood. I, frankly, love it. As one of the speakers noted today - it's the next step from the printing press and radio towards a 'ubiquitously connected world'.
Also, I don't have psychological profiles to substantiate an arguement.

But this MESH collective is a smart-as-hell sort of a group. And they were definately grazing.
This isn't a question of content though, it's a question of multitasking.

For all the philosophy and technology addressed in the sessions - I walked away, more than ever, with a sense of a new psychology. We are evolving to process a staggering amount of information, at any given moment. And, more intriguingly, it's not an exercise in 'must's'. We seem to want this - a seamless ability to work, socialize, reflect and anticipate..simultaneously.

I mean..
How many windows do you have open right now?
Be honest.