Is the internet beneficial or detrimental to thinking?
There is no doubt that the internet is beneficial. When trying to find information quickly, or trying to communicate with others, or simply just trying to update a status on Facebook. The information, however, presented is detrimental to the way people think, the way they organize their thoughts and concentrate on a single idea presented. The internet has benefitted us but perhaps it has misguided our brains.
In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Bruce Friedman describes his thinking as “staccato” he is talking about reading in a shortened form. When people read or see something on the internet, it has already been through the ...view middle of the document...
I believe that it is the cause of the short attention span and the multitasking this generation has. For example, people can read about a quick summary of a book at the same time trying to read about the bio of the author. That does not necessarily mean that they understood the concept of what they were reading. People can multitask but the brain should not want to do it constantly.
Some will say the internet is beneficial because it provides the public with rapid and endless amounts of information. But can that information be trusted? Today anyone can add to the internet. For example, Wikipedia’s information can be edited by anyone. You may be searching for flu symptoms and the information presented may not have been written by a doctor. Sure, there are some valuable resources but are they not in books as well? People have forgotten about the benefits of reading a book. They help people come up with their own ideas and arguments. As oppose to in the internet were the writer presents to the public a biased and short opinion which is why it is more alluring and convenient to just search it up. As Carr mentioned in the article people use to go to the library and research for more than a day. Today, however, all you need for any research is the internet.
“Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich connection when we read deeply and without distractions, remains largely disengaged” says Maryanne Wolf. The...
