Is the Internet Changing the Way We Think?

I had to begin this week with this fascinating article I found over the weekend from Atlantic called “Is Google Making Us Stoopid?”

We are all well aware of the many complaints about the Internet’s changing our kids’ reading and writing habits. Educators everywhere charge the Internet, along with text messaging, with disrupting our children’s ability to read and write properly.

Much of this is due to the increased demand for speed over accuracy so that “Where are you?” becomes “WHR R U?” or “I’m confused, please explain.” turns into “???”
Convenient, yes, but some educators have even found this net lingo spilling over into school essays and homework assignments.

The Atlantic article, however, adds an entirely new complaint that this quick-paced, convenient tool is changing the way we all think, read and write. The author begins with an anecdote that he can no longer sit down with a long article or book and dedicate the amount of time and brain power necessary to digest the information properly.

Indeed, I’m not sure I’ll finish writing this article in one sitting and certainly I insist on checking my e-mail(s) numerous times while I read, work, or write.
With the rise of attention deficit disorder, not only in children but also in adults, I wonder, like the author, if technology is changing our brains, making us more distracted and destroying our ability to focus on any one task.

On the other side, experts claim that social networking and other technologies like chatting can actually improve children’s writing and creativity skills. We also cannot deny the power of this phenomenal tool to search for and gain knowledge previously unavailable. People have more control over the information they receive and can even contribute to the collective knowledge of our world, an empowering and liberating ability.

Needless to say, much like the printing press changed society, so will the Internet in ways unforeseen but ultimately positive. It’s the growing pains that we’ve got to muddle through, just as all societies have before us. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check my e-mail.