Has our Internet exposure affected our attention span and reading habits?Nicholas Carr asked two years ago in an article for The Atlantic Monthly if Google is making us stupid. In it he suggested that the Internet has changed the way we read text and actually is reshaping our neural circuitry and how we process information.
Now Carr has come out with a new book based on that Atlantic article, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.
According to an excellent essay in the Globe he "puts his finger on the dark irony of the tech age: In the search for unlimited information and connectivity, we have also provided ourselves with an infinite scope for distraction. Or as Carr puts it: 'When carried into the realm of the intellect, the industrial ideal of efficiency poses a potentially mortal threat to the pastoral ideal of contemplative thought.'"
In other words "Carr isn't saying technology is evil – he's saying that sometimes, in order to think properly, we need to cut ourselves off. In other words, a well-rounded mind requires a delicate balance of speed and deliberation."
It's interesting to think about if we are achieving a proper balance in our lifestyle in acquiring and processing quality information and finding meaning.
