High, speed, hyperlinks, and distractions; the importance of drawing today

“The shift from paper to screen doesn’t just change the way we navigate a piece of writing. It also influences the degree of attention we devote to it and the depth of our immersion in it.” The Shallows: How the Internet is changing the way we think, read and remember – Nicholas Carr, Atlantic Books London 2010 The aim of this paper is to explore how pedagogically drawing can be used as a means of slowing down the speed at which students observe and look. It is through the physical activity of drawing that we study and make sense of the world that we inhabit, and perhaps contemporarily find refuge from the inundation of screen lit images, and notions of value and authenticity. Without reverting to notions of craft, technique, or media, drawing can be seen as a slowing process, a meditative act that encourages investigation and visual thinking, rather than the consumption of images. Active rather than passive intake of information to recall Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle in an ever-accelerated digital life. How the slowing down of an image can offer deeper understanding and context beyond the immediate, offering time for enquiry and self-reflection. The paper presentation will use a variety of sources, from personal experiences in teaching, to cultural critical writers exploring ‘post-internet’ work. Keywords: Drawing in the age of distraction Drawing as an antidote to the speed of technology Attention spans The value of Images Drawing as research methodology