"Clip Consciousness" is a term first used by the American sociologist, philosopher and futurist Alvin Toffler to refer to a person's perception of vivid and short images that regularly appear in the news, on television, in newspapers, and videos. The main feature of this type of thinking is that a person has to process a large amount of abrupt and completely heterogeneous information. Moreover, to process superficially, without drawing deep conclusions. Over time, this term became more widespread after the appearance of the concept of "clip culture", began to be considered as a component of the general information culture, based on the endless and uncontrolled flashing of information segments.
Concept
Prerequisites for the emergence of clip consciousness were originally discovered in the work of the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan "The Gubenberg Galaxy". In this 1962 book, he seeks answers to the questions: “Who is a man of print culture (he andcalls "the Gutenberg man")? How does the media influence human consciousness (at that time it was primarily about the print media)? How is mass communication turning the whole world into a "global village"?
In particular, McLuhan wrote that at its present stage of development, society begins to transform into a global village, and with the development of electronic means of communication, human thinking returns to the pre-text era.
The first mention of clip consciousness can be found in Toffler's book "The Third Wave", published in 1980. In it, he identifies three main stages of human development: agrarian, industrial and post-industrial. It is in this work that the philosopher for the first time tries to formulate that this is “clip consciousness”. He describes this concept on a personal level, when each person is blinded and besieged by contradictory fragments that do not belong to the figurative series, which knock the ground out from under his feet, bombarding him with instant frames, devoid of any sense individually.
History of the term in Russia
The clip consciousness, what it is in the modern world, was discussed in Russia in the 1990s. It was then that music videos began to appear massively on television. Their plots, in fact, were just such an unfinished image, a complete picture did not add up, but there was only a chain of fragments that were in no way connected with each other in terms of semantic load.
In our country, the firstFedor Ivanovich Girenok, a specialist in ecology and philosophical ontology, used this term. He called "clip" consciousness that which replaced conceptual thinking in the modern world. According to him, by the 90s of the 20th century it had completely outlived its usefulness, ceasing to play a really important role.
Speaking about clip consciousness, Girenok noted the main trends that took place in modern philosophy. The scientist emphasized that the world is replacing binary and linear thinking with a non-linear one. If European culture, in its traditions, is built on a system of evidence, then domestic culture, having Byzantine roots, is built on a display system. This is where the clip consciousness manifested itself among the Russians. He claimed that in this way it replaced conceptual thinking.
Signs
It is worth noting that at first there were certain difficulties when television began to actively broadcast clips, video fragments, and present information in this vein. The perception of such a format caused certain difficulties. But over time, the situation has changed dramatically. The brain of a modern person began to get used to, began to develop the necessary perception.
Soon it became possible to talk about the main signs of clip consciousness. These include the inability of the individual to work with large amounts of data, but the ability to simultaneously solve several problems is noted. In addition, such people show procrastination, fatigue, permanentarousal, difficulty concentrating, as a result - distracted attention, haste, susceptibility to outside influence, increased suggestibility. People with clip thinking are able to have superficial and unsystematic knowledge in a variety of areas.
Cons
From here follow the main shortcomings that are inevitably observed in a person with a similar perception of the world. He often jumps to conclusions as this mindset requires fast processing and perception of information without being thoughtful or focused.
The disadvantages include a significant decrease in the ability to memorize. This is due to the fact that a person is forced to process many fragments that are unrelated in meaning and diverse in a short period of time. As a result, the brain quickly utilizes outdated information, preparing to start processing new information. This leads to an increase in the amount of short-term memory, but at the same time, the amount of long-term memory is constantly decreasing.
Finally, language minimalism is inherent in people with such consciousness and thinking. The processing and perception of information must take place at a high speed, as a result, the expression of thoughts acquires a compact and high-speed format. An example of this is quoting phrases from movies and cartoons, aphorisms that a person saw on demotivators, pictures on social networks. Because of this, it is more difficult for him to formulate his ideas and thoughts, and this is constantly difficult.
Pros
Perhaps the main advantage of clip thinking is multitasking. A person has the opportunity to simultaneously control and perform several small tasks, sometimes with completely different directions.
In addition, the reaction increases. This thinking allows you to instantly switch from one object to another, speeding up the process of perception. The result is increased orientation in unfamiliar surroundings.
Finally, modern man is protected from information overload. His brain is rewired not only for fast processing of information, but also for its utilization, which helps to avoid information overload.
Criticism
All this leads many to criticize clip thinking and the use of the term. For example, there was a stereotype that it is inherent only to teenagers and young people, although this is fundamentally not the case.
In his article, culturologist and philologist Konstantin Frumkin writes that this epithet most often defines the thinking of the younger generation, initially believing that it is bad. At the same time, he identifies several prerequisites for its appearance, one of which is the acceleration of the pace of life along with the increasing information flow. This gives rise to the problem of reduction and selection of information. Frumkin does not consider clip thinking a product of our time, citing the fact that in America back in the 19th century a standard of journalism called the "inverted pyramid" appeared as the main argument. He is justmeant the presentation of information in such a way that everything became clear to a person after reading the heading and subheading. This is the analogue of this concept.
Among the critics of clip thinking is the Russian writer and theologian Andrey Kuraev, who believes that it prevents a person from remaining whole. Its inconsistency grows, which makes it less stable with each new internal contradiction. Some even cite this mindset as one of the main reasons for the decline of secondary education.
Features in children
In recent years, the clip thinking of modern schoolchildren has been carefully studied. A significant part of educators consider this to be a truly global problem, the solution of which must be found as soon as possible.
Speaking about the clip thinking of schoolchildren, researchers note the main features of the perception of minors. They lie in the fact that it is traditionally more difficult for children to express their thoughts, they do not want to analyze and read, learn poetry by heart and write essays. Traditionally, the transfer of information to the student from the teacher was oral and direct. In our time, clip consciousness, as one of the characteristics of modern children, puts the teacher in fundamentally different conditions. Now, in order to interest the child, he will have to saturate the lesson with a variety of types of presentation of information. These can be images that are relevant to the theme, striking presentations, catchy quotes and wording.
On the one hand,the teacher is trying to adapt to the clip thinking of modern schoolchildren, on the other hand, he seeks to develop conceptual thinking in them. This can be achieved by organizing a discussion on the topic of the lesson, special trainings, in which the student's attention is focused on a single goal, task or subject. In this regard, parents are encouraged to encourage their child to express their opinions on a variety of topics as often as possible, as well as to pay more attention to children, spending as much free time with them as possible.
How to get rid of this condition?
Of course, what is happening to modern society is one of the consequences of the development of information technology, it is a certain and inevitable stage of evolution. Therefore, it is pointless and unnecessary to fight clip thinking of modern schoolchildren.
But you can give some advice to both teenagers themselves and their parents in order to increase their learning ability, learn to spend more time on useful and really necessary information. You should definitely protect yourself from the so-called informational garbage.
To do this, there are several recommendations that will help the clip consciousness of young people to better cope with all this flow of information that falls on each of us every day. So it is recommended to stop following the news closely, in which there are too many minor events and outright negativity. It is useful to unsubscribe from social networks. This will be very difficult, so you can start by giving up one or two social networks that you use lesseverything, but still spend time on them.
Instead of e-books, start reading paper books, as an alternative, you can start listening to audio books. It has been proven that information in this case will be assimilated better, at least by a quarter. Give yourself one or two days a week when you absolutely refuse gadgets, as much as possible.
Sustaining efficiency
It is important in the modern age to keep the efficiency of your thinking. It is worth recognizing that the psychology of this phenomenon has not been fully disclosed, since the term appeared relatively recently. Therefore, the main characteristics of clip consciousness at the motivational level have not yet been fully studied by everyone. To stay focused on your own tasks and goals in such conditions, it is enough to follow simple and effective recommendations. They were collected by the Italian psychologist Palladino, who outlined them in his book "Maximum Concentration. How to Maintain Efficiency in the Age of Clip Thinking".
Always remember that with every distraction from business on the news feed or your smartphone, you should immediately begin to observe yourself, as if from the outside, asking a simple question: what am I not doing now? This helps to avoid wasting time, to realize your own concern about this.
You should fight procrastination hard, develop self-confidence, as well as emotional intelligence. After all, another drawback of clip thinking is that a person is left with a limited and frankly meager amount of emotions that hesorely lacking to express the full range of their feelings. Finally, it is necessary to educate spirituality in your children and yourself, instilling values that do not pass over time.
Breathing meditation
Interestingly, some researchers even suggest using special breathing meditations that will help develop conceptual thinking as opposed to clip thinking. It is no secret that our restless mind is the source of most of the problems that exist in the modern world. When everything around is directed solely to further excite him, it is necessary to manually translate thoughts into a calm state.
Effective in this sense can be meditation. Meanwhile, many are frankly afraid of her, although it seems that there is nothing easier than to sit for ten minutes in the morning and evening in silence and with a straight spine. After all, spending so little time putting your thoughts in order, you will improve the condition of your nervous system. Those who practice such practices note that a certain subtle, but obvious support appears inside, because of which the whole day develops in a fundamentally different way, more fully and consciously.
Often, meditation itself is understood as relaxation itself. Most of the trainings pursue this goal. Perhaps the most famous and accessible of them is breathing meditation. This does not require any special exercises, you just need to carefully calculate your own respiratory cycle. Inhale and exhale with a slight stretch of the latter, which helps to make more sensefocus on this process. Rest assured, you will feel noticeable relief in just a minute.
After all, truly effective meditation is not only relaxation, often this is not at all the main thing. It is also intense inner work, which helps to open new horizons of your personality. At home, it is recommended to completely arrange a day of silence, in which you refuse to use the Internet and even communicate with others. If it’s problematic to devote a whole day to yourself, organize at least a few such hours. At this time, simple physical labor, house cleaning, landscaping, do your hobby, your favorite thing.
