What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains - Page 2

Spectrum · 01-26-2010, 08:08 AM

Internet is keeping our brain(mentally) active!
If you can get some exercise to go with it then as doctors say 'keep mentally and physically active'...

dioib · 01-26-2010, 08:17 AM

I am not sure if it could do any more harm to some people

But in all seriousness, I know a man (I don't know about his past/present), he comes to library everyday and uses the internet over there. Last night I saw him again while he was turning on his cell phone and getting ready to leave and one could easily read from his poise that he was leaving there with a sense of tangible achievement. Well, you might see that sort of education of little value, but to him -I think- it's not a small step and it's all that matters. Punchline: I have learned that it all depends on the individual how to utilize the facilities that environment/time offers to his/her personal growth.

WT Sharpe · 01-26-2010, 10:13 AM

The Internet can be a great tool for learning and growth, or a great time-waster and brain cell killer. It's all in how you employ it.

Penforhire · 01-26-2010, 11:16 AM

Okay, more seriously now, there is a skill to using the internet for research. Having all this information means there is also more noise in the signal, or chaff in the wheat if you prefer. I can dig things up on-line on average 50% faster than my boss, who is an intelligent literate man. He just can't process the data, sort out the noise, and adjust his searches as quickly as I can.

I suggest this skill is of similar difficulty to old fashioned paper research, whose characteristics are noted so well above. I do not see this transition as a loss. I know, I'm biased because I'm skilled at it and I use the net for this business purpose on a daily basis. All I can say is adapt or become an old fogey.

calvin-c · 01-26-2010, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Not a fan of Twitter, I take it.

What thinking person is?

mores · 01-26-2010, 12:10 PM

Actually, Phones with the feature to save favorite telephone numbers already made us stupid.
Wait, no, actually, before that, steam powered trains that went faster than 30km/h made us stupid.

Of course, way back when there weren't even TVs or phones or trains around, we'd already get stupider by masturbation.

Falbe Publishing · 01-26-2010, 12:19 PM

I suppose online reading may be neurologically different than book reading. I'm hardly qualified to say, but the internet is most definitely not making us stupid. (It may make it easier to see how stupid we are though.)

I very much remember what research was like pre-internet. First, I had to be interested/motivated enough to actually:

1. go to a library
2. look up things in those huge books that tracked magazine articles every year
3. look up things in the card catalog.
4. find that the library had limited books about the subject, possibly outdated.
5. fill out slips to give the reference library to fetch the magazine articles I wanted.
6. read through everything, hoping to find references to the specific subject I was trying to research.

So, this sort of worked, but it was painfully slow and not at my house.

Now with internet the most trifling curiosity can be satisfied with a simple search that takes seconds and minutes worth of reading. Of course more important subjects can be researched. The internet may not have free information available depending on the subject but at least you can find which books and reports exist on the subject and buy them if you need to.

Internet way better than no internet. Not making us stupid at all.

Shaggy · 01-26-2010, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Well, I'll reserve judgment until I can read a bit more of what his research turned up.

You think the author did research?

delphidb96 · 01-26-2010, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaggy

You think the author did research?

Ummm... Wouldn't that require that the article's author have an intelligent, active and functioning brain???

Derek

MV64 · 01-27-2010, 12:03 AM

I'm confused. Is he saying that because we're on the Internet we will become dumb, or is he saying that those darn kids these days with all their slang and mispelled typing are dumb?

Because if it's the first, I don't see a difference between reading War and Peace in book form or as an ebook.

And as far as the Internet age being dumber, I just chalk that up to each generation being dumber than the last.

ardeegee · 01-27-2010, 12:10 AM

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=408989

taglines · 01-27-2010, 04:23 AM

In related commentary, Daniel Akst in the LA Times lets loose here in an 800 word commentary entitled "Apple's tablet and the future of literature" - subheadline reads: Technology is not the sworn enemy of literature. Still, the collision of technology and literature in this case may well prove explosive.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...,3445923.story

He adds: "Literature has always relied on technology. We wouldn't have the Dead Sea Scrolls had the ancients failed to invent papyrus, just as we wouldn't have "The Da Vinci Code" if Gutenberg hadn't come out with movable type.

Technology has also abetted literature by enabling the wealth and leisure that fueled the rise of the popular press -- and allowed for such luxuries as a class of professional writers and a large campus establishment devoted to the literary arts.

It is important to bear in mind that technology is not the sworn enemy of literature as Apple prepares (according to frantic rumor) to unveil its much-anticipated new tablet computer on Jan. 27. Still, the collision of technology and literature in this case may well prove explosive.

A well-designed Apple tablet, embedded in the right business model, has the potential to blow up the book business as we know it, ultimately upending the whole rickety edifice of publishers, booksellers and agents, much as the digital revolution (and Apple) have done to the music business.

It's been clear for a while, of course, that the future of text is digital. And an Apple tablet wouldn't be the first of its kind. Amazon's Kindle is almost synonymous with dedicated electronic readers, and others have appeared recently as well.

But these devices are relatively primitive. By comparison, the iPhone and its iPod Touch sibling are already remarkably good reading machines while doing so much more as well. Equipped with a 10-inch screen and sold for the right price, the formidable tablet will force competitors to ramp up their game.

These new tablets will give ink on paper a powerful nudge into history's wastebasket, helping to remake not just books but newspapers, magazines and other material we've traditionally consumed in print.

The result will be a seismic change in the literary culture. Ubiquitous tablets will make books cheaper and more readily available, even as physical bookstores follow Tower Records into oblivion. Lending libraries will have to figure out a new mission; the time is not far off when the typical 10-year-old will have the equivalent of the Library of Alexandria in her backpack.

Tablets will also change the nature of books....... ...."

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01-26-2010, 08:08 AM	#16
Spectrum Zealot Posts: 126 Karma: 570 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: iPad 1 and iPad 4, KF HD 8.9"	Internet is keeping our brain(mentally) active! If you can get some exercise to go with it then as doctors say 'keep mentally and physically active'...

01-26-2010, 08:17 AM	#17
dioib ∂₪≈☼ Posts: 113 Karma: 550104 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: ιη.σιγ.ηιφι.κα	I am not sure if it could do any more harm to some people But in all seriousness, I know a man (I don't know about his past/present), he comes to library everyday and uses the internet over there. Last night I saw him again while he was turning on his cell phone and getting ready to leave and one could easily read from his poise that he was leaving there with a sense of tangible achievement. Well, you might see that sort of education of little value, but to him -I think- it's not a small step and it's all that matters. Punchline: I have learned that it all depends on the individual how to utilize the facilities that environment/time offers to his/her personal growth.

01-26-2010, 10:13 AM	#18
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,073 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	The Internet can be a great tool for learning and growth, or a great time-waster and brain cell killer. It's all in how you employ it.

01-26-2010, 11:16 AM	#19
Penforhire Wizard Posts: 2,230 Karma: 7145404 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern California Device: Kindle Voyage & iPhone 7+	Okay, more seriously now, there is a skill to using the internet for research. Having all this information means there is also more noise in the signal, or chaff in the wheat if you prefer. I can dig things up on-line on average 50% faster than my boss, who is an intelligent literate man. He just can't process the data, sort out the noise, and adjust his searches as quickly as I can. I suggest this skill is of similar difficulty to old fashioned paper research, whose characteristics are noted so well above. I do not see this transition as a loss. I know, I'm biased because I'm skilled at it and I use the net for this business purpose on a daily basis. All I can say is adapt or become an old fogey.

01-26-2010, 12:10 PM	#21
mores Guru Posts: 834 Karma: 102419 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Vienna, Austria Device: iPhone	Actually, Phones with the feature to save favorite telephone numbers already made us stupid. Wait, no, actually, before that, steam powered trains that went faster than 30km/h made us stupid. Of course, way back when there weren't even TVs or phones or trains around, we'd already get stupider by masturbation.

01-26-2010, 12:19 PM	#22
Falbe Publishing Gadget Slave Posts: 264 Karma: 600001 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Battle Creek, Michigan Device: Sony PRS505SC	I suppose online reading may be neurologically different than book reading. I'm hardly qualified to say, but the internet is most definitely not making us stupid. (It may make it easier to see how stupid we are though.) I very much remember what research was like pre-internet. First, I had to be interested/motivated enough to actually: 1. go to a library 2. look up things in those huge books that tracked magazine articles every year 3. look up things in the card catalog. 4. find that the library had limited books about the subject, possibly outdated. 5. fill out slips to give the reference library to fetch the magazine articles I wanted. 6. read through everything, hoping to find references to the specific subject I was trying to research. So, this sort of worked, but it was painfully slow and not at my house. Now with internet the most trifling curiosity can be satisfied with a simple search that takes seconds and minutes worth of reading. Of course more important subjects can be researched. The internet may not have free information available depending on the subject but at least you can find which books and reports exist on the subject and buy them if you need to. Internet way better than no internet. Not making us stupid at all.

01-27-2010, 12:03 AM	#25
MV64 Addict Posts: 271 Karma: 2000000 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	I'm confused. Is he saying that because we're on the Internet we will become dumb, or is he saying that those darn kids these days with all their slang and mispelled typing are dumb? Because if it's the first, I don't see a difference between reading War and Peace in book form or as an ebook. And as far as the Internet age being dumber, I just chalk that up to each generation being dumber than the last.

01-27-2010, 12:10 AM	#26
ardeegee Maratus speciosus butt Posts: 3,292 Karma: 1162698 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-350	http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=408989

01-27-2010, 04:23 AM	#27
taglines Banned Posts: 96 Karma: 334 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: nook	In related commentary, Daniel Akst in the LA Times lets loose here in an 800 word commentary entitled "Apple's tablet and the future of literature" - subheadline reads: Technology is not the sworn enemy of literature. Still, the collision of technology and literature in this case may well prove explosive. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...,3445923.story He adds: "Literature has always relied on technology. We wouldn't have the Dead Sea Scrolls had the ancients failed to invent papyrus, just as we wouldn't have "The Da Vinci Code" if Gutenberg hadn't come out with movable type. Technology has also abetted literature by enabling the wealth and leisure that fueled the rise of the popular press -- and allowed for such luxuries as a class of professional writers and a large campus establishment devoted to the literary arts. It is important to bear in mind that technology is not the sworn enemy of literature as Apple prepares (according to frantic rumor) to unveil its much-anticipated new tablet computer on Jan. 27. Still, the collision of technology and literature in this case may well prove explosive. A well-designed Apple tablet, embedded in the right business model, has the potential to blow up the book business as we know it, ultimately upending the whole rickety edifice of publishers, booksellers and agents, much as the digital revolution (and Apple) have done to the music business. It's been clear for a while, of course, that the future of text is digital. And an Apple tablet wouldn't be the first of its kind. Amazon's Kindle is almost synonymous with dedicated electronic readers, and others have appeared recently as well. But these devices are relatively primitive. By comparison, the iPhone and its iPod Touch sibling are already remarkably good reading machines while doing so much more as well. Equipped with a 10-inch screen and sold for the right price, the formidable tablet will force competitors to ramp up their game. These new tablets will give ink on paper a powerful nudge into history's wastebasket, helping to remake not just books but newspapers, magazines and other material we've traditionally consumed in print. The result will be a seismic change in the literary culture. Ubiquitous tablets will make books cheaper and more readily available, even as physical bookstores follow Tower Records into oblivion. Lending libraries will have to figure out a new mission; the time is not far off when the typical 10-year-old will have the equivalent of the Library of Alexandria in her backpack. Tablets will also change the nature of books....... ...."

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