27A- Reading Reflection 3
"Cognitive Surplus" by
Clay Shirky
The book talks about what this generation do with our “free
time”. Television has consumed so much
of according to Clay, our “cognitive surplus”. If we allotted the time spent on television to
something more productive, imagine how life would be then. The majority of
adults today, are consumed with technology. That seems to be the new norm for
society now.
This book connects with my current learning because it discusses
what and how my time is occupied. The
way we spend out spare time is crucial to our lives and well-being. Clay
explains the importance of forming and maintain relationships. Which is related to the time spent.
If I had to design an assignment based on the book, I would have
everyone keep a journal and twice a day, write about what they did during their
“free time”. Everyone has a couple hours of free time. Some spend it surfing
the web, playing video games, sleeping, watching tv, and etc. I’d like to know
if it was productive, beneficial, or relaxing, and why. This would give people and idea of time
management and help people become aware of actions and hopefully the outcome
would help people to be more productive during that free time.
What was interesting and quite true is Clay’s explanation about Intrinsic
motivations versus extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a behavior
that is driven by internal rewards and extrinsic is driven by compensation.
Clay how the two correlates with one other and sometimes extrinsic motivations
can affect our intrinsic motivations and overshadow them. I always for some
reason thought it was the opposite.
This book seems really interesting and like something i may pick up in my spare time. The portion about the surprising part of the book is cool and I'm am interested in learning more about human motivations. I can see how this book could help the entrepreneur create a customer avatar and identify a more specific market. The authors thoughts on a "cognitive surplus" sounds intriguing and I'm glad I read this review, i really think I will read this book!
ReplyDeleteWow, I wish that I chose to read that book for one of my reading reflections. I get SO stressed out about how I'm not properly utilizing my free time, but at least I know I'm not alone. Some time management tips sound perfect for me. Your assignment sounds really helpful; we can think to ourselves how productive/unproductive we are, but to see it in writing may help make our thoughts concrete and spur us to change.
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