Bad for Our Brains?
I really felt the need to share this article, though I know a lot of people have already seen it and are talking about it.
The Internet promises to have particularly far-reaching effects on cognition. In a paper published in 1936, the British mathematician Alan Turing proved that a digital computer, which at the time existed only as a theoretical machine, could be programmed to perform the function of any other information-processing device. And that’s what we’re seeing today. The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.
When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.
What does Nicholas Carr think the internet is doing to our brains? Read the full article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
Also, there is an interesting discussion going on at NPR’s The Bryantpark Project.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I totally agree it seems at times I can do nothing with the use of my computer. Good luck to you next year as the computer teacher I am sure you will be great. And it was good seeing you again.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I love your cool “World Visitors” widget!
June 20th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Well, I feel skeptical about his point. For one, it’s not based on any research per se, he just found some literature and historical examples that could be used to support his point of view. I find that not only do I read in a focused manner still, I read more and think more, and I feel that it is because if the internet. Sure, it is easy to get a lot of information at the push of a button. So what if we have a very broad knowledge of things? In my experience, I do a quick skim if I am looking for a quick answer. But if I really want to find some information, I’m going to do a lot of heavy reading.
The points made are interesting, but I have to wonder if that’s really the case for most people. It is a reality that we don’t really know the long term cognitive effects of using the internet, especially now in the Web 2.0 world. On that, he does give some thoughts to chew on.
And it was good seeing you too, again Wanda!