Perception of Time and Sense of Self: A Byproduct of the Internet

The book, The Age of Earthquakes, provides an interesting perspective of the perception of time and presents the idea that one’s prominent sense of self is ultimately a byproduct of the internet due to the fact that it has invaded every aspect of modern human life. Interestingly, the authors utilize a combination of black and white images with a casual tone of diction (common to the internet) to simulate the seemingly nonlinear perception of time discussed early on. In other words, while reading the book is a linear action, time as perceived by the reader becomes nonlinear because the differing amounts of content on each page requires different amounts of time and the lack of obvious transitions between topics gives the impression of aimlessly pulling the reader's attention around. This made it difficult to understand the author’s belief that the internet will make the world fundamentally unchanging and timeless, despite the fact that the experience was actively felt by the reader.

Additionally, the personality, or one’s “self”, is the manifestation of one’s memories, experiences, and intelligence. The internet has made people smarter as individuals, but because of the lack of a need to remember, people have become more stupid and have lost parts of what makes up their personalities--what makes us us--to the thing that remembers for us: the internet. As the authors put it, humans have become “smupid”. The self has become fragmented and no longer important when considering the world and time as a whole.

What became frustrating was the feeling of slight discomfort felt throughout the duration of the book as a result of the nonlinear structure and the argument that every human is the same because of the internet (the thing that has the power to convince people that we are supposed to be individuals).

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By Taylor Rowland