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The same reason it's easier to remember that something in a book was 3 pages ago rather than 14 paragraphs... or even sections. It's cognitively useful to have
by morsch 14y ago
The same reason it's easier to remember that something in a book was 3 pages ago rather than 14 paragraphs... or even sections. It's cognitively useful to have a physical measure for distance rather than a more abstract one; clicking a link on the web is (metaphorically) understood as a physical act of moving. Scrolling is physical, too, but it's more fluid while paging is sort of "integral".
- malandrew 14y agoGive it another ten years and the concept of knowing you were on page 5 will be the same as knowing you were listening to the b-side of a vinyl record. It'll be nice for nostalgia, but will cease to be a reference point.
- morsch 14y agoThat might be the case but it's irrelevant to the point I was making, that physical metaphors are cognitively useful to provide an alternative structure/index to experiences/information. Your example is a good one because we have lost this particular physical metaphor in the move towards CDs and more so regarding MP3s. But the web has its own set of metaphors, and web browsing as a journey is a pretty powerful and entrenched one.