¶ … Internet Usage on our Lives: A Critique of the Shallows
The pervasive adoption of the Internet continues to completely redefine the nature and scope of people's lives and their ability to communicate and collaborate globally. The Internet is also enabling entirely new approaches to defining methods of co-creation with customers, in addition to the creation and growth of virtual work teams (Panteli, Duncan, 2004). From friends who connect and communicate with one another across continents using Skype over the Internet to the work teams that have developers in the United States, Ukraine, Asia and Australia, the Internet is the common foundation that accelerates communication, shared data, experiences and makes complex tasks accomplishable. Technology is the enabler of greater transparency and trust when used over time to unify people, processes and systems across broad geographic and culture distances (Andriole, 2006). Contrary to this perspective however are the concepts presented in the best-selling book The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains (Carr, 2011). The contrarian views in this book state the Internet is responsible for the balkanization of cultures and the gradual shift to a more insular, closed society where everyone's allegiance to the Internet takes precedence over their willingness to engage in conversations where time is not a constraint or better yet, read deeply in books and savor the insights gained (Carr, 2011). Carr argues that the Internet is also forcing the fabric of society to become addicted to the perpetual updates delivered over the Internet. This view is a skeptical, even cynical view of technology's value.
Communication, Collaboration and Trust
The Internet's value as a platform for communication,...
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