This is the name of an article we read this semester that really caught my attention. In it, the author challenges and ponders whether or not the internet is really the benefit so many claim it to be. He acknowledges its usefulness in our daily lives, but questions whether it is harmfully effecting the way we think.
This is a question that I too have considered more than once. I was never one to enjoy reading too much as a child, or even through school. When given a book to read for homework, I could barely get through what was assigned. I didn't see it as leisure time, but rather, as work. Could this be because of the decades in which I was growing up? At the time, the internet wasn't quite as involved in daily life as it is today, but it was certainly well on its way. We had AIM to communicate with friends and search engines to look up what we needed for school, although since many people still didn't have computers or the internet in their homes, we still used the library for school research projects.
As I have gotten older, I have become more interested in reading books simply for enjoyment, but not as much as I might like. Instead of getting lost in the story of a book, I find myself getting lost online in a seemingly never-ending trail of websites, videos, tweets, and e-mails. Sometimes to the point where I'm astonished to find that 2 hours have gone by and am ashamed that I spent that much time looking at friends' Facebook posts or MSNBC's "The Week in Pictures," each site inevitably leading me to another. And interestingly enough, when I finally shut my laptop and go on with my day, I don't usually think very long on all the information I absorbed in that one sitting. Compared to reading a good novel, when the information tends to remain in my thoughts for days or weeks to follow.
So, is the internet a bad thing? I don't think so. I do think it could be dangerous, though. Not dangerous as in life-threatening, but dangerous as in crippling. Crippling our minds by not using them to their full potential. I may love it when someone asks me a question and I can say "Oh let me look that up real quick on my iPhone!" Or if someone happens to bring up a topic that I happened to come across surfing the web earlier that day, I can spout out some fact about it. But the things that seem to really press in on me, the things that make me contemplate my beliefs about life, society, or relationships--these things seem to come from something in which I invest time. The article notes that even Socrates saw a danger in people not retaining information, saying that they would be "thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant." Maybe it's true: what you put in is what you'll get out of it; if we do a quick Google search, we'll get a quick answer...that we'll probably forget real quick! But if we take time to invest in something, thinking as we read, we will probably see a longer-lasting effect of the information in our thoughts.
Now I have often wondered if there was any hope for me, since I was raised in the more tech-minded generation, and the article seems to think that there is. The author quotes neuroscience professor James Olds and reveals that "The brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions." I believe that I have seen this in my own life. When I push myself to get started on a novel, I can't put it down and often move on to another once I finish. But if I get "out of practice" of that way of reading, and spend much more time on the internet, I find that by the time I try to pick up and read another book, I must almost reprogram and convince my brain to push on until doing so becomes easy again. Like the author of the article, I'm also curious to see the results of long-term psychological research relating to this topic.
The internet has opened up many doors for many people. It has been a way to spread ideas at a rate never before though possible, and it allows us to more easily connect with the rest of the world. But what about our part of the world? What about our families and friends that are right here? Are we neglecting them to gain information about things that would not otherwise effect our daily lives? That's a question that would surely bring some interesting debate, and I would definitely like to hear points from both sides. As for my own personal life, I would like to see myself just put down my phone and sign off my computer, and get back to a more "simple life." I recommend checking out the article, though, to get more information and decide for yourself!
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