"Intellectual Technologies" - Is Google Making Us Stupid?

The topic being discussed in the article, "is Google Making Us Stupid" is how Internet use affects human cognition. Nicholas Carr argues in his most recent article in the Atlantic that the Internet is beginning to have a profound impact on reading skills which has an accompanying negative consequence for deep thinking and cognition. The explosion of online information has lead to an almost obsessive compulsion among many users to try to keep on top of all new information within a given subject area. Since so much information is being produced it leads to a very shallow type of "skimming" necessary to cover the breadth of data produced on a daily basis. Carr's article notes a University College London five-year study of user online behavior which concludes "It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense." The problem with power browsing is that it does not promote deep or critical thinking about the subject matter. While there is not yet strong empirical evidence to support the claim that we are 're-wiring" our brains this is a critical time for reflection on how the tools we may be relying on may be altering our perception.

Though it appears that in this digital age and the plethora if information it entails, we would increase our cognitive value, the fact of the matter is that Google is feeding us instead of us feeding Google. "MacLuhan calls this externalizing our inside capabilities", quotes internet strategist Jesse Hirsch in the YouTube video posted above. As MacLuhan's Medium theory notes, technology itself is changing individuals and society. In my observation we no longer use our brains and mental capacities to filter sense from nonsense; instead we act as passive sponges, utilizing our portals to absorb every piece of information available with little to no time devoted to an evaluation of or comparison to what we are ingesting. In this wave of mass communication little effort is put forth in writing or reading with objectivity from subjectivity.