Internet,
Information Technology
and
Our Brain
Elvis Januskevicius
Student number: 2003732
Words: 707
Dr. Remco Knooihuizen
The growing use of information technology and reliance on the Internet as the main means of communication, acquiring information is changing the way our brain works and the way we think. Such activities as skimming and hyperlinking are influencing our ability to concentrate and focus, in other words, our cognitive abilities. The current view of the Internet and information technology as just a medium, delivery system, social and portable is making us more depressed and anxious, having harder grasp to concentrate, as a result of the way we think and the way our brain works.
A prominent scholar Nicholas Carr, the author of the book “The Shallows”, has dedicated most of his work to study how the Internet and other information technologies affect us. “My mind isn’t going so far as I can tell- but it’s changing. I am not thinking the way I used to think. I think I know what’s going on, for more then a decade I’ve been spending a lot of time online,” writes the author. Scholars from University College London have conducted a five year research program, which focused on documenting the behaviour of visitors to two research sites that provide access to journals articles, e-books and other sources of information. Results of the research program showed that there is a new kind of form of reading, called skimming. Researchers describe it as an activity involved in hoping from one source to another and rarely returning to any previous source.1 The good side of the Internet, is that we have more information and we read more. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking.2 A psychologist at Tufts University, Maryanne Wolf, worries that the fashion of how people read on the Net puts productivity and urgency above all else. When we read online we tend to become mere decoders of information and the ability to interpret text remains largely disengaged.3 Furthermore, the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains.4
The Term Paper on Electronic Publishing Information Internet Book
1 Introduction Ever since publishing was first invented a long time ago, there have been two main obstacles to overcome. The first is the limited audience that will see the published material, with the second being having to frequently update the documents. Now with the invention of electronic publishing and the Internet, these problems have been solved. Publishing documents electronically on the ...
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1 Nicholas Carr, “Is Google making us stupid? What the Internet is doing to our Brains,” The Atlantic, July/August 2008, 58.
2 Carr, Is Google making us stupid, 59.
3 Maryanne Wolf, Proust and the Squid: the Story and Science of the Reading Brain (New York: Harper, 2007), 97.
4 Wolf, Proust and the Squid, 104.
What is more, the human brain is prone to addiction to the use of the Internet, IPHONES, and other electronic devices which give instant access to a large amount of information. In a study published on 2012 January, Chinese researchers found abnormal white matter- essentially extra nerve cells built for speed- in the areas of the brain charged with attention, control, and executive function, in addition, a parallel study found similar changes in the brains of videogame addicts, consequently both studies brought forth results that linked Internet addiction to a shrinkage of 10-20 percent of brain cells in the area of the brain responsible for speech, memory, motor control, emotion, sensory, and other information.5 Presuming that, if our brain shrinks in the area of memory and motor control we change the way we think, what we remember, and are left with less concentration. There is no doubt why should DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) include Internet Addiction Disorder when it will be released next year, albeit in a section for further study.6
As we use our “intellectual technologies”- the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities- we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.7 For instance, the invention of a mechanical clock in the 14th century, people adapted to act according to time not their natural habits, when to eat, work etc. Additionally, according to Nicholas Carr, “the Internet is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. Its becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV”. A call through Skype may appear on the screen while you are calculating your expenses. These kind of things, “scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration”, according to Carr.
The Term Paper on Google Strategy In 2012
1. Use the “Five Force Model” to assess Google’s competitive environment. Rate each of the Five Forces as weak, moderate, or strong, and justify your ratings. I. Competitive Pressures Created by the Rivalry among Competitors sellers Google’s competitive environment regarding rivalry is strong. Google has managed to stay ahead of its rivals. Google used its large cash reserves to make strategic ...
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5 Tony Dokoupil, “Is the Onslaught making us Crazy?” Newsweek, July 2012, 28.
6 Dokoupil, Is the Onslaught making us crazy, 29.
7 Carr, Is Google making us stupid, 60.
The Internet and information technology- a very powerful apparatus created to make our lives easier and more efficient, but nonetheless has its effect on the way we think and the way our brain operates. As we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.8
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8Carr, Is Google making us stupid 63.
Bibliography
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google making us stupid? What the Internet is doing to our Brain.” The Atlantic, July/August 2008, 56-63.
Dokoupil, Tony. “Is the Onslaught making us Crazy?” Newsweek 160, no. 3 (2012): 24-30.
Paul, Bryant. “Is the Internet making it impossible to concentrate on anything?” PsycCRITIQUES 57, no. 17 (2012).
Wolf, Maryanne. Proust and the Squid: the Story and Science of the Reading Brain. NewYork: Harper, 2007.