We are losing our minds! Literally.
I recently read an article written by Nickolas Carr "The Shallows" and it
was talking about what the internet is doing to our brains and how it is
changing the way we think and killing our creativity.
This article was very interesting here are a few key points:
I think that the first point that the story
really touches on is the idea that the internet throws so much information at
us that our working memory cannot hold it all in. We are overloaded by so many
different links and options as we scroll through a page that we never allow the
proper time for the information to transfer into our long term memory. When
nothing is being transferred to our long term memory we lose the ability to
think creatively and absorb the ideas and information that is being thrown at
us. If we lose the ability to think creatively then, we lose our ability to
explore different options and come up with new ideas and fully understand what
the information means that we are taking in.
The
second point is that the test’s that have been done have proven over and over
that the skimming of articles and information and the clicking back and forth
on links hits us with so many distractions that it that we lose the information
we are trying to seek. The people who printed things off and read then through
in a linear fashion scored much higher on the tests that the people who had
access to many different links and options and more information. The links are
actually destroying our ability learn but at the same time offering us the
opportunity to learn a lot more information.
The third
point is how this is affecting our brains and the way that we process the
information that we are taking in. When using the net our brains switch to the
speed mode and by doing so we stop using the part of our brain that allows us
to think deeply and creatively. It’s not all bad through. With the way society
is and the social medias, the ability to be able to navigate the pages fast and
move through information with blistering speed can be very beneficial for you
as an employee and can offer you a lot of opportunities that may not be offered
if you didn’t have those abilities. The point I liked about that is, “does it
make you a better employee?” from what I read, no it does not. It might make
you more efficient in certain aspects but your understanding and quality of
work are affected by the inability to process the information completely.
Therefore when you search and retrieve the info that is desired, that’s all
your doing, and by not understanding the information fully because nothing is
being absorbed, I think that it is negatively effecting our ability to be
really good employees.
The one point
that I found really thought provoking and saw in me is the idea, “That we want
to be interrupted, because each interruption brings us a valuable piece of
information. To turn off these alerts is to risk feeling out of touch, or even
socially isolated.” This section I thought was very interesting because I have
felt that feeling before. If I didn’t check my face book, my yahoo, my pof
site, and whatever else then I have felt like I was missing out on some event
or thing happening and you get this feeling like your being left behind. They
also added the line “we crave the new even when we know that “the new more
often trivial then essential.” That is my experience with it. I have spent many
hours playing on a lot of these site and the more I get involved with them the
more I get that feeling that I need to check it out and see what’s going on
even though I really don’t care and is mostly non-sense anyway. I have always
been an outdoors type of person and have not embraced the internet and social
media like some of my friends have but I still have felt those feelings. I was
shocked by how distracting those feelings are and how I have sat there
refreshing my e-mail and face book page just to look at random updates. I think
that it’s ridiculous and eventually I just stop and fade away from it back into
woods on a camping trip. This article I
thought was very interesting and I enjoyed reading it. I will most definitely
be looking and thinking about these aspects from now when I’m online. I want to
be a creative writer and if I lose my ability to think deeply and creatively
because I’m constantly bombarded by non-sense, then I lose the ability to
effectively do what I love most in the world.
So you should read this article it is very interesting and
might change your view points on social media and your brain!
If anyone would like to read this article just comment or e-mail me and i can send it to you i cant figure out how to post a pdf on here as a link and im not sure what website it is from but its totally worth a read!
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