Finally, what I have been telling my mother since I got a nintendo when I was 13 years old has come true. Playing video games is really better for your brain then reading. We had that argument several times during my Junior High days.
But really, there is something to video games. I see high school kids everyday playing Pokemon. And, it's not just boys either. Everyone loves Pokemon. They know the names of all the pokemon, and what they do. If they knew half as much about math, (or spent half as much time on it) they would all be in Calculus as Freshman. It's not surprising though, they have been playing their whole life.
Now, if you'll excuse me. I downloaded Dead Head Fred for the Playstation Portable to do some research.
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I've seen arguments favoring new media, saying they can have good cognitive benefits. Two examples are authors Steven Johnson (Everything Bad is Good for You) and James Paul Gee (What Videogames Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy).
My question is, what does that have to do with an economics of attention? What is an economics of attention?
I found the Jay Cross link: http://internettime.com/?p=54
I was disappointed in his framework though - mostly listing a bunch of Web 2.0 technologies; not really talking about the ID competencies that should attach.
In a new-media world, it seems that IDs need competencies for finding and judging information; negotiating value; creating learning opportunities in open-info environments; re-using media and information resources for learning purposes; creating assessment and advisement systems to support self-directed learners and teams. Things like that.
Imagine what would happen if studens spent as much time with their learning as they do playing other things. At my school the big distraction is foot. My boys eat sleep, and drink it in. They may become good when they reach high school, but how does that compare with them not knowing their mulitplication facts that they only need to spend 5 to 10 minutes a night on to learn.
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