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A few weeks ago, Jeevan and I were discussing how being on-line all the time impacts the way your brain works.

We defined a few new terms, but, being as we were in a bar drinking beer and not on-line at the time (ignoring the fact we both had iphones, blackberries and laptops in the bags at our feet), I have forgotten most of the words we came up with. Therein lies the truth in how I use the computer and the internet. As a proxy for having a brain with a functioning memory. Which maybe needs a new term as well.

1. nooble: [new-bull] - verb

The act of IMing someone to ask them a “quick” question that you could easily find yourself on google or even in your own email archives.

ex. q: “Hey, what was the name of that restaurant you emailed me about last week?” a: “Stop noobling me.”

2. suggest a word: [pro-nounce?] - verb

Checking other mobile devices even though you are in front of computer. how “rewards” (comments on your stuff, email, new RSS items, etc) that come at irregular intervals rather than timed intervals seems to create more addictive behavior (temporal differencing algorithm in neuroscience?). And how that basic prehensile reaction is expounded by being on-line with multiple devices simultaneously. Driven a bit by boredom and a bit by ADD.

For ex., if I have a blackberry and an iphone sitting on my desk with my computer, sometimes I look away from my computer, see my iphone, pick it up without really thinking why and catch myself checking it for new stuff, looking for some form of reward; a new comment, email, sms, whatever. But mostly the same type of thing I would have already seen on my computer. As if my brain thinks there may be something new or different on that phone that I didn’t see in my computer.

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