According to Nick Carr, author of "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains," the internet works against our ability to foster our own ideas. It provides distracted and superficial thinking. Carr worries that we are losing our ability to think for ourselves. And this conclusion is shared by many psychologists and educators, he adds. Carr proceeds by going into great detail on why we have trouble focusing at length on any given thing. He explains, that the more stimuli in an environment, the shallower the focus must be to receive all of the information. And this can create 'information overload', which decreases our depth of concentration and working memory.
I remember when these very same things were said about television. Television allowed us be exposed to more conversation and social interaction as well as seeing the world, more than one can experience on their own. The internet does a similar thing in a more interactive way . We need more than conversation to form a world view. We need visual, auditory, and social interaction. The television and internet do all of the above in ways that conversation and reading cannot. I believe that television and the internet has improved the quality of intellectual and social life for those who use it well.
As the pace of our lives has quickened our desire for fast-moving diversions has grown. I am constantly online and multi-tasking through email and Facebook. However, I am able to concentrate and engage in deep thought when necessary. So I feel that I have a good balance of connectedness and disconnectedness. As with everything there will be positive as well as negative effects. So I agree that the internet has changed us but disagree that it is causing our minds to become shallow; unless we are shallow to begin with.
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