Reading Responce #5

Internet; Friend or Foe

In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he explains his views on many facets of the internet’s effects on daily life. Carr opens his article with an ominous paragraph from the end of Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A space Odyssey where HAL, a super computer, pleads for its life. As astronaut Dave Bowman disconnects the memory circuits that control HAL’s artificial brain “Dave, my mind is going.” HAL says, longingly “I can feel it. I can feel it.” Carr whole heartedly agrees with these words as he states “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry…” Then he goes on to talk about his theory, that the internet is changing the way he thinks and processes information. Carr explains that he now he finds it harder to stay focused on books and long articles, finding that his mind begins to wander looking for additional stimuli. The kind found when “surfing the net,” quick clicks to hyperlinks, while scanning headlines and blog posts.

It turns out Carr is dead on about the remapping of his brain by the internet. The article “Web surfing boosts brain circuitry in older adults” by Lesley Ciarula Taylor found at thestar.com Thursday, February 11, 2010 Toronto Edition tells about Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA conducted an experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants searched the “Web” and while they read a book. The research findings show that internet use engages more neural circuitry than reading in those with prior internet experience. So this is showing all of that information being hurtled at you at the speed of the “Web,” is actually helping to keep your brain strong and develop new neural pathways.

In no way am I advocating that the internet is all good and we should all spend as much time as we can there. To the contrary just like anything else in life, “everything in moderation.” You can have too much of a good thing. In this case it’s almost like drugs you can lose your wife, family and possibly our life with too much internet use. Like in the case where the kid in Japan died from starvation and malnutrition while playing World of Warcraft. At michaelhyatt.com Karyn Brownlee has an article “7 Strategies for Keeping the Internet from Taking Over Your Life” where she states ”The time invested—or rather wasted—online can often preclude other more important activities such as in-person fellowship, marital intimacy, housework, and overall job performance.” Brownlee talks about how the internet can go from a friendly tool to an obsession and even an addiction. She also shares that there is a quick quiz at netaddiction.com for internet users to see where they rate on the addiction scale. Finally she shares her 7 Strategies for Keeping the Internet from Taking Over Your Life. They are simple yet seemingly effective ways to help manage your time on the Web. For instance “Stay true to your personal mission while online. If you don’t know what that is, don’t Google it. Try prayer instead.” Even if you’re not the praying sort, managing your time seems like a good strategy. The internet is a tool, and at the end of the day we need to put our tools away and just relax.