Is the Internet Making People Dumber?

Ken,

That's an interesting point you make about passion. There does seem to be some evidence that the way in which we absorb information via the internet hinders learning. Having a passion for a subject would tend to increase our concentration and facilitate "deep learning".

I'm reading a fascinating book at the moment in which the author suggests that the internet is indeed making us dumber. Experiments in cognitive research show that there's a difference in the way the brain processes and retains information when skimming the net from the way it does when one reads a physical book. It's claimed that the distraction and interruption inherent in the digital world hinders true comprehension - the sort of retention that only "deep reading" delivers.

The book is by Nicholas Carr, called "The Shallows - What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains". I recommend it - but probably best not to read it online

Amazon.com: The Shallows: What the Internet Is...

Frank

I'll have to agree with Michael, it is not dumber people, or more of them, they are now just very visible.

Where they would never have dreamed of writing to a newspaper's editorial section, they can sit down and rip off a blog post, tweet, facebook update, or other piece of content in seconds without ever giving it a thought.

In general I would say the internet makes people more educated and informed, if they know how to do simple research.

How often does your wife or a friend ask a question you do not know an answer to, but within 1 minute you do?

My wife turns and asks me off the wall questions all the time, and I just say "Wait a second", hit Google, find a relevant source, and give her the answer. It may not make me an expert on the topic, but now I am at least slightly informed which would have never happened in the past.

ADHD is a plague
The % of Sociopaths per 100 is up 300% from 50 years ago (5-15%)
Type 2 Diabetes from obesity up some ridiculous amount.
The 10 year old to 30 year old generation is the 1st in the history of this country to have a shorter expected life span than the previous 20 year generation.
It may not be the internet that has made them dumber, more unhealthy and less caring... (My vote is TV), but between the influx in the use of chemicals, the environmental increase in bad stuff and TV, I think certainly has made a difference.
The question is, will it get better or worse. The internet has the ability to help make more people be aware of the insanity of their decisions. (If they will listen or care.)

A friend of mine emailed Obama and asked what was wrong with the country. Obama's reply was 'ignorance and apathy.' Another friend asked what that meant. My 1st friend said he didn't know and really didn't care.

Thanks a lot! I was drinking a pepsi when I read that.

That is one factor. Not a possibility, definitely a factor. (Look at Jerry Springer.)

It's also a factor that the 'not so intelligent' will immerse themselves in some one thing that is of interest to them, and therefore can learn/do it, but yet, cannot apply it to anything else.

Case in point: Mother in mid 40's, claims she can't 'work' because she can't 'sit' or 'stand' for 8 hours every day, and goes for disability.

Refuses to do any kind of online work from home job under that excuse and several others, yet, sits at the computer all day to play Facebook games, and plans to take a Disney vacation and cruise to the tune of 7K 'when the disability comes in.'

Bet your a** that if she found a Disney 'contest' that required her to post 10 articles a day about Disney to various directories, in order to receive a fully paid Disney vacation, she would suddenly be able to do it.

Stupid? Lazy? Both.

-Dani

$150k a year puts you in the top 10%? I'd think more like the top 1%... But yes, those sensationalised articles have existed for centuries.

Hi,

I've just finished a 2 hour conversation with my son about this subject (he's 14).

I think it's a little bit of all the things that have been suggested. But I do think it's incorrect to blame the internet (as in the question posed in the title) - more accurately, I would suggest that it is certain aspects of the internet and the way that it is being used. In line with what Talfighel said above, personally, the internet has made me much smarter.

What I do think is particularly prevalent is the surreptitious delivery of propaganda and influence that IS dumbing people down - just like death by 1000 cuts, it's stupidity by 1000 underhand methods.

The conversation started between us over many things and covered many areas. But some of the key aspects were -

I'm anti-technology in many ways - I do have a mobile phone, but use it as little as possible, mainly for important texts to arrange things with others who aren't generally online. I have made a habit of NOT taking the thing out with me at all and will dump it completely as soon as it's practical.

Whereas my son has an ipod, a small itouch type thing and a mobile phone and gets seperation anxiety when he goes out without them.

Much of the discussion revolved around disproving his theory that he is wiser and more capable by having access to information on hand. I feel that this is part of the dumbing-down process - it's the same as the 'calculator' argument - you don't teach a child arithmetic with a calculator. You teach them to use their brain to do it, and when they can do it all in their head or with a pen and paper you THEN introduce the calculator.

One of the biggest problems is that people avoid using Google to find information because they get demotivated by having to wade through junk and therefore fail to develop the ability to filter that junk and make decisions about what is good and what is bad info. The good info IS there, but it requires time and patience and knowledge to be able to filter the overwhelming amount of junk and misinformation.

Instead they prefer to have their information delivered on a silver platter via itouch applications and the like, but due to their lack of ability when it comes to discerning good info from bad info, they are absorbing and repeating bad info as if it is good - hence, they are dumbed-down without even realising it.

I pointed out to him my recent boycott of television (which he understands and agrees with) but explained to him that his decision to carry these junk gadgets around is equivalent to putting the TV in his pocket.

Yes, he could easily just use the gadgets to search Google, but he doesn't - he mainly uses them to talk nonsense on facebook. Why would that be?

We covered many subjects, including the studies that have been done (and my own findings through self-employment) regarding mutli-tasking, interruptions and their effect on concentration and focus etc etc.

This subject will only get more important, because as I mentioned, over here (in the UK) the propaganda machines and dumbing-down have recently gone into absolute overdrive. Also, in line with what others have said above, more people with less (ahem) 'cognitive dexterity' and general awareness ARE getting access to venues where they can voice their opinion and the downside of this is that those who would normally put them straight are getting fed up with fighting the tidal wave of ignorance and prefer to let others stew in their own stupidity, than give themselves overwhelming stress from trying to educate them.

We can see this happening all around us ;-)

I think you hit the nail on the head. Too much "information" found on the internet is not only brief, but can be completely misleading and inaccurate. Detailed, deep research is, I think, done only through obtaining the depth of knowledge found in well-researched books.