Is Google Making us Stupid? No, just different

The Atlantic current issue has an interesting article Is Google Making us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr.  He claims that internet use is changing the way people read and consequently probably changing the way our brains work. Carr provides anecdotal evidence of people saying that these days they have difficulty reading for sustained periods and are accustomed to jumping from one item to another on the internet.  I think that there is a strong tendency for people to romaticise the past and stories like this are often mourning a world that may not have existed and may be irrelevant to the needs of today. But this is a non-hysterial article and worth a read - or at least a good skim! 

I like to think of contrary arguments to 'the computers are ruining us' out of a natural habit of being contrary, but it helps to think of past examples of such 'decline' and consider whether we really need  see change in such a negative light.  

In the good old days of reading, (19th Century) a gentleman with no paid work and lots of time, could read the entire collection of books on a scientific or social issue, having time to ponder the issues and maybe write longhand and lengthy letters to friends on the subject. Now it is impossibe to read everything on even a sub topic, yet it is possible to search through vast collections and read the salient items (in brief). Is the former type of reading superior to the latter, or just adapted to the needs of the day?

People read newpapers in a skimming fashion for decades. Newspapers are designed to support this type of reading, with headlines and first paragraphs that summarise a story. They have sections and contents and teasers to encourage the reader to jump to the parts that interest them. Isn't this quite similar internet reading?

Surely people adapt their behaviour to the situation. I heard some commentators in the US talking the other day about the decline of great speech and the inability of audiences to concentrate for any length of time to a formal address. Well, I recenlty watched the Obama speech 'A more perfect union' on race in the US. It goes for 37 minutes and has had well over 6 million hits on YouTube. Clearly people can concentrate for long periods. Another example is the amazing popularity of the TED Talks web site which consists of hundreds of great thinkers giving 16 minute video talks on their field of interests. Some use slides to support what they say: most just talk. Obviously these  supposedly brain altered internet junkies who can't read for a sustaned period manage to watch and understand complex ideas. Maybe modern people are more adaptable and often choose to jump quickly from topic to topic quickly because they can.

Romantic and semi-accurate view of the past are one of the reasons schools generally teach the curriculum of the last generation rather than the current one. We are really in trouble today in schools when we fail to use today's communication tools.

Image flickr

Tags: literacy digital literacy culture internet
Posted at 11:49AM Jun 14, 2008 by John Travers  |  Comments[2]