Mired in The Shallows

I meant to write earlier this afternoon - right after I finished reading Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains ... but I didn't finish it until suppertime because I was too mired in the shallows myself! I was way too "videopated" (Dan's term) browsing my favourite sites and playing my current favourite game: Fishdom.

Anyway, it was a very interesting and thought provoking book. Hopefully the internet hasn't addled my brain so much that I'm incapable of doing it justice. The basic premise, of course, is that the internet - computers in general, really -  is definitely changing our brains ... and not necessarily for the better. I've known that pretty much forever in my own life. It's taken a long time to get to the point where I can write fluently on the computer. It's always been great for editing, but somehow the words still seem to flow easier with pen and paper. I'm sure that if I were writing this entry in my paper journal it would be different. Not necessarily that much better, but different. The ideas would come out in different ways and I would probably express them differently too.

Reading - or concentrating in general - are sometimes more challenging after a long period of computer use too. Again, I'm getting better at it, but I still find myself a little agitated and antsy after too much screen time. And that's one of the things Carr mentions in his book. He also points out that, despite access to more information than has ever been available in history, we are not becoming smarter. We instead use it very superficially; the abilities we once had to analyze, synthesize, draw inferences, and create novel thoughts are actually deteriorating. We're turning into lazier, less innovative thinkers than before! In the past we read deeper, we memorized things, and in so doing consolidated the thoughts and ideas in our brains (there are actually demonstrable physical and chemical changes that take place in the brain). Afterwards, we were better able to connect them and to generate new constructs.

Now computers aren't going anywhere; if anything they'll be even more ubiquitous that they already are. Even in my own life, I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Ipad 2. But, as with most things, it's all about moderation and how you use the tool. If I - we - can balance the virtual and real worlds, the quick and superficial with the deeper and more substantial, hopefully we'll find that magical happy medium where we can take the best of everything and become in turn the best people possible.