I completely understand how sites such as Google help and really shape some writing and thoughts today, but the fact that our "nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones" allows for the habit of Google to not be so safe. That really scared me. This article really made me realize how the ways of today are morphing into solely convenience. There's no concentration or contemplation, therefor there goes our imagination and our mind no longer analyzes the information and only learns bits and pieces of it, and "thanks to our brain's plasticity, the adaptation occurs at a biological level."
Then I started to realize how badly this was happening to me. After printing out "Is Google Making us Stupid?" I groaned at its measly length of six pages. It took me weeks to actually force myself to read it. It's possible that since it's summer work that could be reason, or my brain is so adapted to the convenience of quick learning that I couldn't possibly fathom reading a whole six pages! That realization made me feel really stupid when reading the essay.
What also fascinated me about this article was how it not only focused on the fact that it is changing how we think, which is hard to deny, but also how we are beginning to rely only on the internet for any information. Also that it tricks us into learning more. The article discusses how when we search for something little footnotes and hyperlinks pop up, which keep us delving further and further into the subject, or completely away from it. The result may be a little more knowledge on something we might not have searched for in the first place (that's how I saw it before the article), but it is more so "to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration." And not only is this apparent in our (and when I say our I mean teenager's) web surfing, how we keep different tabs of facebook, grooveshark, pandora, and blogger consistently open while on the internet and flip between them, but also in the way that we sit in front of our computers while the TV's on, and while we're doing our homework. We're simply training our minds for convenience. So where does our imagination wander off to?
This article got me wanting to read a good long book (good thing we have to, because we have to blog about it soon) and taking my imagination for a stroll. I"m glad we had to read it, because it's an idea that should be brought to the attention of a very wide audience. This is something that we can change, especially now that we know that "nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones."
Interesting, thoughtful response Rachel. I was likewise freaked out when Carr brought in evidence our brains are actually changing as a result of digital literacies. Take heart, though: there's a competing line of thought that all these new forms of information are actually making us more sophisticated, complex thinkers.
ReplyDelete(And if six pages made you groan, I can only imagine what noise you made when you opened the Wollstonecraft reading!).
This article WAS scary. I completely agree. I don't want my habit to be changed without my permission, how dare they. Sadly enough, it's all my fault isn't it. No one asked me to Google it. Nice thoughtful post! Loved your sentence on taking imagination for a stroll. I think we all need to take that walk sometimes.
ReplyDelete*Mr.Kunkle, I actually felt bad for my printer as it spat out Wollstonecraft.*:)
I know, this article did make me want to go out and find a nice, long book to read to prove to myself that Google is NOT making me stupid. The internet has given us permission to become more lazy with things. (Why read the book? I can read the Sparknotes. Funny thing, people used to go to bookstores and buy Sparknotes in book form, but now even that is online.) Unfortunately, as much as people might say, "It's Google's fault," it is our fault and our fault alone. I like how you said we have trained our minds for convenience. It's so true. But sometimes it's good to go back to the old school stuff.
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