Google is not making us stupid. New technologies are always villanized and discounted without taking into consideration their potential for society. The Internet is making us more productive. We are able to do more and do it better because of the Internet. Our social connections have grown and so has our ability to process and prioritize information.
First I need to point out a flaw in the argument of those saying the Internet is destroying reading. If anything, the Internet has increased the amount of written (or typed) word that is being read in this country. Blogs, online newspapers, Wikipedia, and online books are very popular over the Internet. While we may be reading differently, we are still reading. The Internet is quickly catching up to TV in the hrs per day spent on each by the public. If anything the Internet should be seen as a tool which is re-invigorating the written word, not destroying it.
Nicholas Carr writes in his essay, “And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” While I agree I read online texts and other mediums swiftly and without much thought, while reading those articles, not much thought is needed. Normally when I read online texts it is for research or an assignment I am completing at school. Whether I was reading the article online or if it were in front of me, I would still skim it the same way. The disconnect comes in when you cannot change the way you read. I still actively read books, whether on my computer or print. None of the objections Carr makes I agree with. I feel like I immerse myself in a book the same way I do in a video game sometimes; exploring someone else’s world. It would be silly to expect myself to read a novel the same way I read articles online, and I actively change the way I read to suit the medium.
Another of Carr’s objections is that, “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.” This is truly an incorrect analysis of the ability the Internet has in prioritizing and channeling information to us. How is a telephone any different? A counter argument; You might be sitting in your living room by the fire enjoying Tolstoy, completely absolved, then the phone rings and all your attention is scattered because you have to pick it up. If anything the Internet makes it easier to decipher whether this information is important. I guarantee that (at least with today’s notification software) if you got distracted for a moment by a pop-up saying you have spam mail you could begin reading again much quicker than if you got a call from a telemarketer, had to put down your book, pick up the phone, hang up, and resume reading. Email alerts are like caller ID, you know when to stop what you are doing and pick up, and when not to. It allows us to not miss information that may be vital to the way we live. If I got an email from a professor saying class is cancelled I would stop reading the homework, or if I got an email from my mom saying she was coming to dinner that week, I would go buy food and clean. It allows us to change what we are doing to accomplish our goals (whether they be an A in a class or a nice dinner with your family) faster.
The Internet has brought about positive changes to society. Steven Johnson writes, “Television and automobile society locked people up in their living rooms, away from the clash and vitality of public space, but the Net has reversed that long-term trend.” The Internet through social media like blogs and Facebook has augmented our face to face interactions giving us access to friends we would have lost, and expanding our social networks to people we may have never met if we didn’t read that one post. It allows us to confront each other’s ideas, and share our own. Public discourse was never so broad and easy. While there might be an information overload, at least it isn’t an information shortage. The days of sloth in front of daytime TV are coming to an end. While we may just sit in front of our computers Johnson makes another point, “The networked computer makes you lean in, focus, engage, while television encourages you to zone out.” If computers continue to gain on TV as the number one American past-time, it can only lead to a greater sharing of ideas and a more informed, active public.
While there may be dissent to this analysis, saying the Internet is full of cats doing funny things and no real information. However a growing segment is using the Net for real information getting. This demographic is actually the most informed in our country. Information is what the Internet was made for.
Moreover, some believe that reading anything in digital format isn’t really reading at all. Because I cannot find a better way to word it, I will simply quote my first extended essay, “Most of these doomsday illiterate american convictions view any digital media source as visual, “…the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media…)” How exactly can you discount reading an article on the internet or a book on a kindle? Some studies show we read “differently” because we scan down instead of flip a page. I can’t see this being any worse than completely losing track of what you just read when you flip to “A4” from the front page while reading a newspaper. Just because it isn’t paper, doesn’t mean we aren’t reading.” Carr may agree with the quote from Jacoby, but he luckily doesn’t go quite so far in his essay.
The Internet, despite these protests and condemnations, will continue to thrive and take over our lives. It is an invaluable tool that everyone can, and does, use. If we get information differently than it is for the better. The studies have shown people who get their information from news on the internet are more informed than any other medium. The Internet is win, the rest is fail.
Bib.
Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad is Good For You. 1. 1. New York, New York: The Berkely Publishing Group, 2005. Print.
Carr, Nicholas. "What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains." Is Google Making Us Stupid. (2008): Print.
Bib.
Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad is Good For You. 1. 1. New York, New York: The Berkely Publishing Group, 2005. Print.
Carr, Nicholas. "What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains." Is Google Making Us Stupid. (2008): Print.
