The Internet offers us near-limitless amounts of information, often for free, at the touch of our fingertips. But it’s also a tool, and like all tools, is subject to the ways in which it is (or isn’t) put to use. Rumpus interviewee Maria Konnikova considers how the lack of contextualization of Internet information shapes the way that information might be used, in writing and otherwise:
When we strip away context, we strip away everything that enables us to determine what something really means. Words themselves become decorative—evocative, perhaps, but denuded of their essence. To recapture comprehension, a more classic touch is needed, a detailed picture, with precise strokes and every element fully rendered.
Read the entire article at the New York Times.
