Our 6/11/08 blog post, provides a link to the article, Is Google Making us Stupid?, from the July/August issue of Atlantic Monthly. The author, Nicholas Carr, addresses the profound neurological changes Internet technology is bringing about in how we process information. Recently, nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts commented on this article. Click here, to read his thoughts. Do you agree? Please post your comments on our blog!
Hmm. I’ve been blaming my bifocals on my inability to read for extended periods.
Prediction: Carr’s article is destined to appear in the next 1,000 composition readers–where it will be ignored or skimmed by its student-purchasers whether they are Web addicts or not.
As Carr acknowledges, his thesis that the Web is changing us neurologically lacks real evidence and is in effect an elaborate post-hoc argument. The anecdotes that he and Pitts cite point rather to a social, not neurological, change.
For a different view of the “Web is stupefying” conversation, see http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/blogs/tools-and-transformations-clay-shirky.