Post by amandarussell on Jul 30, 2011 14:05:25 GMT -5
The Internet is a very valuable asset to researchers and wonderers alike. It allows for quick information that satisfies the most diligent searchers. However, the essay Is Google Making us Stupid? reveals a darker side of the Web. Does the Internet shorten our attention spans? Yes, for the most part. The agitation that comes with reading long novels or essays generally comes from the habit of skimming over the internet. Unless one totally removes traditional reading from their life, scanning is not a final transformation of the mind, but rather a simple habit. While I do not doubt that the internet has a profound effect on the human mind, I also know from experience that the effect is completely reversible.
The overall change from reading at length to picking out a few key words is mostly due to habit. While I have the Internet at hand, I am more likely to stray toward it rather than read a book. However, once given the option of no Internet, I can focus on a novel and read it for many hours without tiring. The human brain is, by nature, a lazy organ. It tends to gravitate toward the activities that require the least amount of thought and consider those activities pleasurable. Deep, intense reading is an action that necessitates focus and mental endurance. When given a less stressful option, the brain would rather choose that path. As author Nicholas Carr stated, “Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes.” This is due to the human desire to have easier and faster options. In a way, blaming the Internet for your inability to control your own mind is like blaming a lack of sidewalks for obesity. It makes sense when you first look at it, but deep down it’s a human excuse for not getting something done. The human brain is extremely focused on ‘ease of access’ these days. It would rather have fun than deal with real world issues. And, in abuse of the Internet, one can see that the effects can turn out to be exactly what the brain intended to avoid: boring and stressful. By allowing yourself to be controlled by a lazy, party animal brain, the fault falls upon you when you can no longer sit down and read or focus on life’s important issues.
Now, if someone finds themselves completely controlled by Internet addiction, or as I like to say ‘the-easy-way-out addiction,’ there’s a quite simple solution: cancel the Internet subscription, and sit down to read a book. Boring? Quite possible after the plethora of things to do on the Internet, but removing oneself from the situation is the only way to end a reliance on ease-of-access databases. Nicholas Carr stated, in his essay Is Google Making us Stupid?, that “[media] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.” Everything on this planet shapes the process of human thought. Seeing a gleaming beetle stretch to reach a taller blade of grass adds another level of thought to the human brain. Granted, not everything has a positive effect on thought, but it is possible to remove unsavory habits of thinking. How? By replacing the unwanted trains of thought with ones that are wanted. Remove the Internet, and you’re forced to focus on other ways of gaining information. Simple as that. To be completely fair, one can only blame his or her self for a mind’s transformation to simplicity, as he or she has every means possible to stop the “remapping of the neural circuitry.”
The overall change from reading at length to picking out a few key words is mostly due to habit. While I have the Internet at hand, I am more likely to stray toward it rather than read a book. However, once given the option of no Internet, I can focus on a novel and read it for many hours without tiring. The human brain is, by nature, a lazy organ. It tends to gravitate toward the activities that require the least amount of thought and consider those activities pleasurable. Deep, intense reading is an action that necessitates focus and mental endurance. When given a less stressful option, the brain would rather choose that path. As author Nicholas Carr stated, “Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes.” This is due to the human desire to have easier and faster options. In a way, blaming the Internet for your inability to control your own mind is like blaming a lack of sidewalks for obesity. It makes sense when you first look at it, but deep down it’s a human excuse for not getting something done. The human brain is extremely focused on ‘ease of access’ these days. It would rather have fun than deal with real world issues. And, in abuse of the Internet, one can see that the effects can turn out to be exactly what the brain intended to avoid: boring and stressful. By allowing yourself to be controlled by a lazy, party animal brain, the fault falls upon you when you can no longer sit down and read or focus on life’s important issues.
Now, if someone finds themselves completely controlled by Internet addiction, or as I like to say ‘the-easy-way-out addiction,’ there’s a quite simple solution: cancel the Internet subscription, and sit down to read a book. Boring? Quite possible after the plethora of things to do on the Internet, but removing oneself from the situation is the only way to end a reliance on ease-of-access databases. Nicholas Carr stated, in his essay Is Google Making us Stupid?, that “[media] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.” Everything on this planet shapes the process of human thought. Seeing a gleaming beetle stretch to reach a taller blade of grass adds another level of thought to the human brain. Granted, not everything has a positive effect on thought, but it is possible to remove unsavory habits of thinking. How? By replacing the unwanted trains of thought with ones that are wanted. Remove the Internet, and you’re forced to focus on other ways of gaining information. Simple as that. To be completely fair, one can only blame his or her self for a mind’s transformation to simplicity, as he or she has every means possible to stop the “remapping of the neural circuitry.”