Reading Reflection #3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of “Cognitive Surplus” is that people spend so much time watching TV that they are missing out on hours to have a “Cognitive Surplus”. This “Cognitive Surplus” is the time people would otherwise have to collaborate, learn, or work on projects if they were not watching television. Clay Shirky notes in his book that the amount of time watching TV by Americans in one year could be used to make 2,000 Wikipedia-sized projects, yet we waste that time watching TV. Shirky does, however, notice that for the first time people are moving away from watching TV in their surplus time and instead using computers or mobile devices. Shirky interprets this trend as a good thing because he has seen people join together and form collaborative groups through the internet.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book connects with ENT 3003 because it highlights your ability to create similar to how the class shows how you can create ventures. Not only does it talk about the ability to create a venture, but shows how there is time for everybody to create movements. I think this book goes to show that if you would spend your free time, or cognitive surplus, on creating rather than just consuming than building ventures would be extremely possible.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would design an exercise where we have to track what we do in our surplus time. I think it would be very valuable to see where all the hours in our week go. How many to school, work, classes, and homework and how much to eating, socializing, sleeping, and using electronics. I think this activity would open people’s eyes in college and have them realize that by just being full-time students they many feel like they’re doing a lot, but for many of them they are only “working” twenty hour weeks and have plenty of time to collaborate and create.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

My biggest surprise in the book was that people are more satisfied in the short run by watching TV because they are filling an emotional void. I think that collaborating and working on projects during your cognitive surplus can be extremely valuable because it will pay off more in the long run but I think people are reluctant to start this because they have associated “work” as a negative thing and cannot find the motivation to start unless they get some sort of immediate recognition or reward.