Media Overload

In Douglas Edwards' new book about the early days of Google, he tells the story about how Larry Page records programs on NPR and then, when he has the opportunity, listens to them at double speed, so as to save time and use his time more efficiently. For many of us we may not go quite that far, but we do spend a great deal of time consuming and connected to a lot of different kinds of media. Is there a problem with this? Is concern about this akin to our Grandparents telling our parents not to spend to much times listening to the radio, or our parents horrified at their kids are plugging in earphone to listen to rock 'n roll. Are those concerned about too much media consumption simply old school, and don’t understand the world that digital natives live in? Or, is there really a price to be paid for too much of a good thing. Tom Cooper of Boston's Emerson College and former assistant to Marshall McLuhan share his ideas in Fast Media, Media Fast: How to Clear Your Mind and Invigorate Your Life In an Age of Media Overload. My conversation with Tom Cooper: var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6296941-2"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}