Our experience online is less that of the unprejudiced intellectual than that of the autistic living with Asperger’s syndrome. While a lot has been argued back and forth about whether computer use or gaming might cause spectrum disorders, direct observation alone has revealed that our digital behaviors closely mirror those of Asperger’s sufferers: a dependence on the verbal over the visual, low pickup on social cues and facial expressions, apparent lack of empathy, and the inability to make eye contact. This describes any of us online, typing to one another, commonly misunderstanding each other’s messages, insulting one another unintentionally, or seeking fruitlessly to interpret someone’s real meaning by parsing his words repeatedly.

8 months ago  /  8 notes  /  Source: kindle.amazon.com