Melting Brain Matter?

“Not even McLuhan could have foreseen the feast that the Internet has laid before us; one course after another, each juicier than the last, with hardly a moment to catch our breath between bites,” (Page 4, Carr, 2011). This a very vivid image Nicholas Carr draws in his book, entitled What the Internet is doing to our Brains: The Shallows, as he begins to critique the affect the internet has on the human brain’s functionality. As I read this sentence, I thought, wow, this is very true. With each new technological advancement in the internet, and now, mobile internet, we have to taste it and digest it, and get used to the new diet.

Carr (2011) explains that in the past his research used to take days of reading and sorting through periodical, and that now, with the help of technology and the internet, can take minutes with the help of Google and other internet databases. I’m from the generation that is considered “Generation Next” or the “Millenial Generation” which essentially means that I have been brought up with the Internet. Honestly, I can’t even remember or picture life without it. I can’t even begin to fathom what it was like to write a research paper for class before the age of personal computers. It is a horrifying thought because I can’t even think about how I could fit something like that into my schedule because I’m so busy with, not only being a full time student, but also working full time as an intern in various departments on campus. It also makes me reflect upon students that have families. How would they find time or arrange child care to be able to use the library and conduct research for their projects and papers in the age before personal computers? Where can anyone really find time to research in their busy schedules unless they are a traditional-aged student that doesn’t work or have any other familial responsibilities?

Discussing the convenience of the Internet in the education field lead me to think of online colleges and online coursework, such as our own hybrid program for Educational Leadership Masters of Science. How convenient is it to have a Masters program that is full time, but offers only a part time time committment for class work! I wonder how many students that are in the program wouldn’t be able to be if it wasn’t a hybrid course. I know, for me, if the Educational Leadership program was a full time, traditional style of meeting for classes, I wouldn’t be able to do all the internships and extra responsibilities that I take on in order to have the hands on experience in the higher education field.

Carr (2011) muses about how the convenience of the Internet has changed his attention span for being able to read full novels. He discusses how his mind wonders and decides to do other tasks online. I often find myself having the same attention span problem with sitting down and turning everything off to read or write for homework purposes. I find myself taking a break every fifteen minutes to check my email or go on Facebook or a lot of the time I chat on Google chat or Facebook chat while I’m simultaneously doing homework. Simultaneously chatting or searching the web, or taking breaks to do so, while work on homework helps me to concentrate more on getting things done. Otherwise I find my mind wondering to other things after I start reading or writing for homework, and I remain unfocused and never accomplish too much in the time I have, just as Carr describes. Besides for the convenience factor, according to neuroscientists, the Internet does affect the brain and the way it functions because the mind is always changing and a “work in progress” (Carr, 2011).

“Every technology is an expression of human will. Through our tools, we seek to expand our power and control over our circumstances--over nature, over time and distance, over one another,” (Page 44, Carr, 2011). As Carr (2011) discussed regarding Nietzsche’s writings with a type writer instead of hard writing, the tools we use to read and write influence our mind’s thinking as well as we work with those tools to complete tasks. Convenience and technology can enhance and sometimes even give us the ability to express ourselves more fervorently and passionately. I see this occurring with people that blog and post statuses on various social media and blogging websites. More and more the Internet and technology tests the boundaries (if there are any) of the first amendment’s freedom of speech. People are discussing more controversial things in a very open matter, with a no holds bar mentality. Now a days, anyone can post anything that’s on their mind, and it just exists, in internet “space” and people can choose to read it or not read it. But those whose blogs do get a lot of attention from readers and audiences, can tend to get published in a more official sense, i.e. book deals.

“The great danger we face as we become more intimately involved with our computers--as we come to experience more of our lives through the disembodied symbols flickering across out screens--is that we’ll begin to lose out humanness, to sacrifice the very qualifities that separate us from machines,” (Page 207, Carr, 2011). Carr (2011) discusses Weizenbaum’s remedy to avoid this is through exercising your intellectual side of your mind by doing “tasks that demand wisdom,” (Page 208). For me, I think this would include reading literature and discussing and analyzing it with people; talking about my ideas and communicating them orally to colleagues and supervisors; problem-solving through issues and barriers; faciliating face-to-face events with students, staff, and colleagues. I already take part in most of this activities on a weekly basis, and even though I am on the computer and Internet for most of my day for work and school, I think having the social, face-to-face aspect of my job and education keeps my brain from melting.

Overall, Carr’s book was an entertaining read, much more so than Misa’s book. I liked that he had many colorfully written metaphors and examples, but it wasn’t too heavy on the history. It was interesting to read his perspective of Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press. I thought it was also curious to see how Carr believes technology heavily affects culture and society. Carr was definitely a better read than Misa.