Thursday, June 12, 2008

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Number of times I stopped reading this article to do something else: 3
Number of times I caught myself skimming (while trying not to): 2

2 comments:

GirlSpeakExpert said...

The paragraph I got to before I could no longer concentrate: 6.

The quality of my writing after being absorbed into the office-email-internet-research way of life: Shit.

However, I read every night, I used to be a speed-reader, but now I make a point to read every word in a book and truely immerse myself in it. If I don't think I fully absorbed a sentence or a paragraph, I read it again.

That being said, I find it difficult to read more elaborate and intellectual writings, focusing more on my "brain candy" that lets me relax into that hypno-space that brings me slowly and reassuredly to sleep at night. Gone are the days when I could read long prose about the politics of the Victorian age or the subtle allegories of the classics like Shakespeare and Dante's Inferno.

Unknown said...

I came across this article yesterday, too. I managed to read it in it's entirety by printing it out. Bad for the environment, but the only way I can read lengthier stuff.

It reminded me of a column by David Brooks that I read a few months ago on how new technology allows us to "think less." I of course found that column (and this Google/stupid column) via a most-emailed list. Makes me wonder if we're all going to end up as zombies, with homogenous thought... At the risk of adding to this, here's the link to the Brooks column:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html