Google is attacking our brains

Looks like I'm not the only person to pick up on the whole "internet has rotted my brain" meme. Similar to what I wrote several weeks ago, the latest issue of The Atlantic has an interesting article on how Google and the internet in general have shaped the way we read and process information. It's a great article if you don't just skim through the first page.

“We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University..."We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

It's inevitable that if you make information easier to find you're going to value it much less and not give it as much attention. If I had to comb through stacks of magazines and newspapers to read the daily news I'm sure I'd remember much more than what I retain clicking through Google Reader headlines. And apart from convenience, part of this has to be related to the sheer volume of information that we are now exposed to. There are things I read every day that without the internet I probably would have never come across through print or even traditional AV media.

Despite the sensationalist title of this post and my previous one on the matter, I really don't think you can blame this on the internet or even Google. Sure, there is a consumer and entertainment bend to much of the world wide web, but it is our responsibility to remain active learners and use the availability of information to our advantage. Time to stop playing the skimming game to get to salient points and really put forth effort to reason and pick up nuance.

Comments

[Sam]

Interesting - I guess it also has a lot to do with how we are as readers. I mean, although I know that much of the news will be same (albeit with a different political slant!) I prefer to read all the major newspapers online rather than just one - I like to get the varying reportage rather than just one opinion!