Summary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/15/internet-brain-neuroscience-debate
This article
from the Guardian poses the inevitable question: is the internet changing the
way we think? Some experts give their opinion on the matter. The writer Nicolas
Carr claims that the internet is altering our brains. Sarah Churchwell, an
academic and critic, believes that it is changing our habits of thinking, as
soon as we need information, we will instantly google it. We have become
entirely dependent on these types of search engines and it would rarely occur
to us to go looking for answers in an encyclopaedia or a dictionary anymore.
The novelist, Naomi Alderman, argues that anything humans come in contact with
will change our brains to a certain extent as we are constantly learning and
taking in new information. She says it’s normal that we have become used to
reading short summaries on Wikipedia instead of reading a whole book. Geoff
Dyer explains how using the internet has reduced our ability to concentrate on
one thing at a time.
The second
article I have chosen from www.onlinecollege.org gives us 15 ways in which the
internet is changing out brain. The first one being “the internet is our
external hard drive”. I find this statement accurate. It goes onto explain how
because of the internet, the way we learn and find information is rapidly
changing. We have access to so much information but how much do we actually
retain? However, the article poses the question, is the internet increasing our
IQ over time?
I believe
the internet is a positive change in our lives. It has brought the world closer
together and made information more accessible to everyone. Yes, it had reduced
our ability to concentrate for a long period of time, but modern life style is
fast moving, we don’t have time anymore to sit down and read a book, we need to
be able to read a summary and be provided with the information we need as
quickly as possible, the internet is a necessity to keep up with the lifestyles
we are required to be leading.
"The internet is our external hard drive" how true this is, every question seems asked and answered at the end of a google search. I agree with you that although the internet appears to have caused our reduced concentration span it is in keeping with the speed at which we live ourselves. Multi-function is the requirement that has replaced continuous concentration.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the internet has changed our way of thinking and learning. As someone who loves to sit down and read a good book, it's extremely sad to see this culture is being replaced with sitting infront of a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteWhile i do think the internet is a positive change, I also believe it has damaged parts of our way of thing and learning: we rely on the internet too much, in my opinion, we have become lazy in our learning because now we don't need to learn things instead it's just a touch of the botton away.
However I compltely agree with you when you say the internet has brought us closer together and this is an extremely positive change.