Does the internet make us dumber in a smart way?

[AEDewar]

Lots of interesting points in this. Discuss.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

I was able to identify with this statement:
Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

of course... my mind wandered after reading about half of this article so I don't know how it ends. (true story.)

[Carter]

I don't know how the article ends, either, but that's because I'm at work.

"Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages."

My reaction to this part of the article: I should have it so good. Try two to three words during childhood, and two to three sentences in adulthood. Deep reading only comes to me within that tiny window of opportunity between mental fatigue and outright sleepiness. I think my problem, though, was not from what I read on the internet, but from lead I ingested. Ah, but I'm whining.

It's interesting that the author bemoans the change in the way his mind works, yet this seems strictly adaptive to his new life and world. I think of the Jason Bourne movies, where in one scene he is trying to understand why his mind is instinctively assessing every environment for threats, determining escape routes, etc. His brain has been trained to do that, and it has adapted for the sake of survival. Without those changes, he would long ago have been dead. Perhaps, in our high-speed internet age, we too can only survive, or at least flourish, if our brains similarly adapt.

Personally, though, I'd prefer to flounder than flourish if that's what it takes to avoid having to be hyper-connected and hyper-aware of all things at all times. I've spent most of my life seeking the incredibly elusive 'deep thinking' (or at least less spastic thinking). I don't want to start back-sliding now. And hell, I'm still a child of the sixties, after all. Peace, love and happiness, man. I want it in my politics, my relationships, and especially when I sit down to read a good book.

[LiBRachel]

God yes.

I'm now in love with Carter, a fellow child of the '60s.

It is a peaceful, gratifying feeling to be immersed in a book. It is a vacation from reality and one cannot go on vacation for 2-3 minutes at a time.

Down with ADHD reading. Rage against the machine.