Is the Internet Re-wiring Our Brains?

TRANSCRIPT

Like any technology, the Internet is a double-edged sword, but is the world wide web literally re-wiring our brains, dumbing us down by destroying our ability to think analytically and infantilizing our minds in the process?

Are we becoming a world of wireheads as the constant onslaught of new information reduces our attention span to nothing - eviscerating our ability to concentrate?

Some neuroscientists say the Internet is re-moulding brains to rely on associative thinking - which leaves us incapable of reading or writing at length.

But Oxford University's Susan Greenfield goes further - warning that the likes of Facebook and Twitter are giving people what amounts to a lobotomy of empathy.

"We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist," she told the UK's Daily Mail. "My fear is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights; who have a small attention span and who live for the moment." Greenfield even fears that real conversation may give way to sanitized screen dialogues.

There are Facebook and Twitter obsessives who can barely visit the bathroom without posting a status update about it. To these people, privacy, individualism and merely the nagging voice of their own conscience are terrifying prospects. They constantly need to fill their environment with sound and fury, signifying nothing. To them, silence is torture - considered thought and peace of mind is anathema.

How do we reach out to people with often complex information when their brains have been frazzled to the point where they can barely maintain a conversation?

This is a book -- remember these things? 40 per cent of Americans read one or less over the course of a whole year. A quarter of Americans don't read any books at all. A lot of our young people only read books because they are forced to do so for school and college. Too many words, not enough pictures, definitely no videos of dancing penguins.

American technologist Nicholas Carr fears that someone, or something, has been tinkering with his brain, remapping the neural-circuitry, reprogramming the memory. His friends tell him how they find it impossible to absorb the information contained in a longer article. Writing for Atlantic Magazine, Carr asks, is Google Making us Stupid?

Now we've had to adapt our message to still be relevant in this brave new world of superficial soundbites - if I'd have written all this up in a three page article a lot of people would have simply ignored it.

What do you think? Are social networking websites and the Internet general destroying our ability to think analytically and in any significant depth? How can we craft our message to compete in this world of information overload and 21st century wireheads?

Leave your comments below or in a video response -- but make sure it's no longer than 3 minutes otherwise I might get bored and start watching YouTube clips of sneezing pandas instead -- bye!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Internet
• wireheads
• dumbed-down
• new world order
• technology
• facebook
• twitter
• youtube

[SlowY00]

@doodleplop800 Facebook is shit. I deactivated it 2 months ago and I dont miss it.

[TheLoonwolf]

Something I see over and over again...

There is a song in a video, and repeatedly people will post the same comment, "What is that song in the video?" And it's written directly underneath the video, usually twice, with additional comments written right next to where they write the comment with others asking what song it was and the answer being given.

[lunaris19]

I love the fact that you provided us with a transcript for this video. I wish more Youtubers would speak in a more coherent manner and post transcripts so that those of us with poor working PCs would not have to rewind the video if we had missed something.

[diffnature]

The Internet is one key element in a more expansive process of alienation.

[CloudDecim]

@SlowY00 How about deleting it so someone wont hack it..?

[populations1st]

never had face book never will . trying to connect with nature god and who i am is a madger battel. the truth is out hear and its dismal. tracktor pulls . fin. beauty plus pitty. lookit up its art thats what we crave

[MichaelsYoga]

I think the net has helped a lot in bringing a lot of us together, but just as there's a dark and light side to every aspect of every aspect it can equally hurt us. And in (too) many cases I think it has. Ultimately I agree with the message in this video (thanks for posting it and bringing it to discussion). For goodness sake, if we can all just start off with at least an attempt to maintain a certain amount of awareness.

[allancbacon]

ya

[SlowY00]

Internet is such a great tool for increase our knowledge and a great information tool, but it is VERY easy to become a victim of internet addiction and social media shit.

[Joeybagadounuts08]

I don't think the internet is making us stupid. It is a tool and can be used however we see fit. The people in charge may want to dumb us down, but this has been happening in our educational system for decades. TV is even worse as it flashes A.D.D. style non-stop. So yes, people are becoming dumber, but it's not the internet's fault. Thanks for posing the question.

[RichHappyGirl]

Thought provoking. Now where's that Panda link?

[crypter27]

You need to ge a hair cut Paul!