Clip thinking cripples children

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Young people today perceive any new material in a completely different way than before. Clip thinking is what it's called. Why will children with clip thinking never become the elite?

What is clip thinking

The term "clip thinking" appeared in the mid-1990s and originally meant a person's ability to perceive the world through short vivid images and messages of TV news or video clips. The word "clip" is translated from English as a piece of text, a newspaper clipping, an excerpt from a video or film. The video sequence of most music videos consists of a chain of frames that are loosely connected in meaning. With clip thinking, life resembles a video clip: a person does not perceive the world as a whole, but as a sequence of almost unrelated events.

Modern TV series, films and cartoons are created for the clip consumer. The scenes in them go in small blocks, often replacing each other without a logical connection. The press is filled with short texts in which the authors only outline the contours of the problems. Television presents news that are not related to each other, then advertisements, the videos of which also do not relate to each other. As a result, a person, without comprehending one topic, goes on to consume another.

The world of the owner of clip thinking turns into a kaleidoscope of disparate facts and fragments of information. A person gets used to the constant change of messages and requires new ones. The desire to search for catchy headlines and viral videos, listen to new music, "chat", edit photos, and so on is growing.

Professor, Doctor of Psychology, Senior Researcher of the Department of Organization of Research Work of the FSBI All-Russian Center for Emergency and Radiation Medicine named after V. I. A. M. Nikiforov EMERCOM of Russia Rada Granovskaya says the following about this:

- Today it is often said that the modern generation of children and young people is very different from the previous ones. What, in your opinion, is this difference?

- It is connected with the fact that young people today perceive new material in a different way: very quickly and in a different volume. For example, teachers and parents moan and cry that children and modern youth do not read books.

This is indeed the case. Many of them do not see the need for books. They are forced to adapt to a new type of perception and pace of life. It is believed that over the past century, the rate of change around a person has increased 50 times. It is quite natural that other methods of information processing arise. Moreover, they are supported via TV, computer, Internet.

Children who grew up in the era of high technology see the world differently. Their perception is not consistent and not textual. They see the whole picture and perceive information like a clip.

Clip thinking is characteristic of today's youth. People of my generation, who learned from books, hardly imagine how this is possible at all.

- Could you give me an example?

- For example, we conducted such an experiment. The child is playing a computer game. Periodically, he is given instructions for the next step, about three pages of text. An adult sits nearby, who, in principle, reads quickly. But he manages to read only half a page, and the child has already processed all the information and made the next move.

- And how is this explained?

- When children were asked during the experiment how they read so quickly, they answered that they had not read all the material. They looked for key points that let them know what to do. To illustrate how this principle works, I can give you one more example. Imagine that you are tasked with finding old galoshes in a large chest in the attic. You quickly throw everything away, get to the galoshes and go down with them. And then some fool comes up to you and asks you to list everything that you threw away, and even say in what order it was there. But this was not part of your task.

There were also experiments. Children were shown a picture for a certain number of milliseconds. And they described it like this: someone lifted something on someone. In the picture there was a fox, which stood on its hind legs, and in the front one held a net and swung at a butterfly. The question is whether the children needed these details, or whether it was enough for the problem they were solving that “someone lifted something on someone else”. Now the rate of information flow is such that details are not needed for many tasks. Only a general drawing is needed.

The school also works on clip thinking in many ways. Children are forced to read books. But in reality, the school is structured in such a way that textbooks are not books. Pupils read one piece, then a week later - another, and at this time another piece from the other ten textbooks. Thus, in proclaiming linear reading, the school is guided by a completely different principle. You don't have to read the entire tutorial in a row. One lesson, then ten others, then this one again - and so on. As a result, contradictions arise between what the school requires and what it actually offers.

- And what is the age limit in this case?

- First of all, this type of thinking is characteristic of young people somewhere under 20 years old. The generation, whose representatives are now 20–35 years old, can be said to be at the crossroads.

- Is clip thinking really peculiar to all modern children and youth?

- Most. But, of course, a certain number of children with a consistent type of thinking remain, who need a monotonous and consistent amount of information in order to come to some kind of conclusion.

- And what determines what type of thinking the child will develop, sequential or clip-on?

- It depends a lot on temperament. Phlegmatic people are more likely to perceive large amounts of information. It also depends on the environment, on the tasks it offers, on the pace at which they arrive. It is no coincidence that psychologists call the old type people of the book, and the new type people of the screen.

- And what is typical for them?

- Very high switching speed. They have the ability to simultaneously read, send SMS, call someone - in general, do many things in parallel. And the situation in the world is such that more and more such people are needed. Because today, a delayed reaction for any qualification is not a positive quality. Only some specialists and in exceptional situations need to work with a large amount of information.

Even the German industrialist Krupp wrote that if he were faced with the task of ruining competitors, he would simply provide them with the most highly qualified specialists. Because they don't start working until they receive and process 100% of the information. And by the time they receive it, the decision that is required of them is no longer relevant.

A quick response, although not accurate enough, is more important in most cases now. Everything has accelerated. The technical production system has changed. Even 50-60 years ago, a car consisted of, say, 500 parts. And they needed a very good, qualified specialist who would find a specific part and quickly replace it. Now the technique is mainly made from blocks. If there is a breakdown in any block, it is completely removed, and then another is quickly inserted. Such qualifications, as before, are no longer needed for this. And this idea of speed is permeating everywhere today. Now the main indicator is speed.

- It turns out that today people are learning to react faster to the tasks assigned to them. Is there a downside to this medal?

- There is a decline in qualifications. People with clip thinking cannot conduct deep logical analysis and cannot solve sufficiently complex problems.

And here I would like to draw your attention to the fact that now there is an interesting stratification. A very small percentage of wealthy and professionally advanced people educate their children primarily without a computer, requiring them to practice classical music and suitable sports. That is, in fact, they are educated according to the old principle, which contributes to the formation of consistent, not clip-like thinking. A striking example - Apple founder Steve Jobs has always limited the number of modern devices that children use at home.

- But a lot also depends on the environment in which the children are brought up. Can parents somehow influence the fact that with all the current involvement in the world of modern devices, the child develops not only clip thinking, but also traditional, sequential thinking?

- Of course they can. First of all, we must try to expand their social circle. It is live communication that gives something irreplaceable.

- At the beginning of our conversation, you mentioned that books are read less and less. In your opinion, does this mean that the age of the mass book is coming to an end?

- Unfortunately, this is largely true. In one of the American articles, I recently read a piece of advice for university professors: "Do not recommend books to your listeners, but recommend a chapter from a book, or rather a paragraph." It is much less likely that the book will be picked up if it is recommended to read it in its entirety. Sellers in stores notice that books thicker than three hundred pages are rarely bought or even considered. And the question is not about the price. The fact is that people within themselves have reallocated time for different types of activities. They would rather sit on social networks than read a book. This is more interesting for them. People go to other forms of entertainment.

- As far as I understand, clip thinking is an inevitable consequence of the development of modern society, and it is impossible to reverse this process?

- That's right, this is the direction of civilization. But, nevertheless, one must understand where this is leading. Those who followed the line of clip thinking will never become an elite. There is a very deep stratification of society. So those who allow their children to sit at the computer for hours are not preparing the best future for them.

How to deal with the disadvantages of clip thinking?

In some countries, special trainings are held to combat clip thinking. They are taught to concentrate and analyze information. And in the United States, distracted attention in schoolchildren is treated with medication. Many sources suggest the following ways to combat the negative aspects of clip thinking:

Paradox method

Mikhail Kazinik, a world-renowned professor and teacher, used in his practice the "method of paradoxes", which develops analytical skills and critical thinking. Paradox means contradiction. Research has shown that passively conscious children take the teacher's statements on faith. But when a teacher makes two mutually exclusive statements, students tend to think.

For example: Mozart is an ingenious cult composer who, having written countless pieces of music, dies in poverty. Beethoven composed grandiose symphonies, but at the same time he was deaf. Chopin was diagnosed with tuberculosis and predicted that he would live no more than two years, but the composer continued to give concerts and write music and lived for twenty years! How can this be explained? The search for paradoxes and contradictions is a convenient exercise that eradicates the consumer attitude to information and teaches thinking.

Reading fiction and philosophical literature

In his article "Is Google Making Us Stupider?" American writer and publicist Nicholas Carr admitted that after reading two or three pages of text, his attention is scattered and there is a desire to find another occupation. These are the "costs" of clip thinking, and to combat them, experts advise reading the classics. Their works train the ability to analyze. Unlike television, where the viewer's perception is controlled, when reading fiction, a person creates images on his own.

Some teachers force their students to read modern philosophers - Lyotard, Baudrillard, Barthes, Foucault, Bakhtin, Losev. It is believed that through philosophical works one can learn to build a chain from the general to the particular. True, for an unprepared owner of clip thinking, reading philosophers is an order of magnitude more difficult than reading classics.

To develop perseverance, beginners are advised to set an alarm clock while reading. First, you can interrupt from the book every 10 minutes, then 20, 30, and so on. In the pauses, it is useful to retell the passages read and analyze the actions of the heroes, and even better - to summarize what was read. The result is an analytical mind and order in the head.

Discussions and the search for an alternative point of view

To think deeply and consistently, you need to analyze and understand the positions of people with opposite views. Seeing only one point of view is always dangerous.

In any question, you need to look for the opposite view. Discussion and participation in discussion clubs and round tables makes a person sober. Moreover, it is best to participate precisely in discussions, and not in polemics. In the process of polemics, people simply defend their position and want to win, while the participants in the discussion defend their points of view, but try to understand each other and find the truth. Both polemics and discussion are important, but it is the latter that develops the ability and desire to think.

Day of rest from information

Limiting yourself in the consumption of information is a wise decision in the era of the information boom. Experts propose to introduce a personal "Day of rest from information". You cannot watch or read anything on this day. Consumption is replaced by creation and creativity: you can write, draw, communicate offline. Without a balance between consumption and creation, man is just a machine to keep the market going.

On other days, it is important to monitor the way in which information is absorbed. For example, at least partially replace convulsive channel switching (“zipping”) and reading short materials with watching full-length films (or better theatrical performances) and prolonged reading of large texts.

You need to understand that clip thinking is a forced phenomenon in the era of information technology, which has both pros and cons. As for children, it is important to adjust their development and consumption of clip information. And at least, be aware that those who allow their children to sit for hours at computers, tablets and iPhones are not preparing the best future for them.