Internet Make Hulk Mad... And Illiterate
A quick look at the history of communication technologies shows us that, even as far back as the proliferation of the written word, humans have questioned how technology changes us. Typically, people of the past worried that new technology would make us stupid.
Fast-forward to today and we see the same curiosity and similar fears. And now we have a technology that literally is in the air around us: the internet has stretched its cables and lines into our schools, businesses, and homes. It has irradiated nearly every aspect of modern life with its signals and hotspots and hazardous leaks. With how invasive and how widely used the internet is, we have to wonder, does the internet change us? And is the change for better or worse? The answer is complicated and depends on who you ask.
Honestly, how many of us have shared a fact from an internet meme only to have friends, haters, and trolls on Facebook inform us that our “fact” is from The Onion or some fake news report?
Some people believe the internet has negative effects on our minds. Sherry Dingman, associate professor of psychology at Marist College, believes the proliferation of multimedia content on the net dulls our critical thinking skills, because our brains process imagery with the less critical right hemisphere. “Essentially what this means is that information translated from print form to flashy multimedia will be consumed less critically,” says Dingman. Honestly, how many of us have shared a fact from an internet meme only to have friends, haters, and trolls on Facebook inform us that our “fact” is from The Onion or some fake news report? Dingman might well have a point, and she isn’t the only one who’s concerned.
Nicholas Carr, another internet detractor, thinks the net leads to a scattered, easily distracted brain. Since the internet delivers info in “a swiftly moving stream of particles” and is constantly interrupting trains of thought with dings and bings and click bait and Rickrolls, Carr believes our brains have more difficulty concentrating on denser material, like books. The internet has trained our brains to chase distraction rather than engage in deep and meaningful focus and analysis. Playwright Richard Foreman has gone so far as to call us “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.” If these critics are right, the internet could be making us more distracted and gullible (a.k.a. stupid, but delicious with syrup). Furthermore, modern science might yet prove these fears right.
Over the last decade, some studies have indicated that technology does, indeed, change the way we remember, process, and focus on information. As these studies suggest, the internet has changed the way we remember things. It tends to reduce our ability to recall, while constant multitasking degrades short-term memory; however, despite the drop in recall, memory retrieval methods have expanded. Now, internet users might not remember the information they want, but they will remember where to click to retrieve it on the internet. (Wow. "Expanded.") And while multitasking harms short-term memory, a 2008 study at UCLA’s Memory and Aging Center shows an increase in advanced decision making and complex reasoning in people who use the internet. Some believe that’s because the internet frees up brain space usually cluttered with more mundane information. According to these studies, then, the internet makes us stupid and smart at the same time, just in different ways.
Like pretty much all technology, the internet is plagued by claims that it does more harm than good. Alarmists like Dingman and Carr seem to be right to worry, but, as studies have shown, these critics only present one pixel of a larger, increasingly complex picture. (This bigger picture includes words. That’s what makes it more complex.) And that’s just scratching the surface. It says nothing about how the internet has changed us socially, how it has altered our workflows, and how it has revolutionized entire industries. It says nothing about how it might be leading to more sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles, more instances of cancer, and more trivial, deceitful, and viral politics. The changes literally abound. (That word, “literally.” That’s something else the internet has changed, isn’t it?) So this is where I leave you. What other changes have you observed? Have you yourself changed? How? And do you feel these changes are overall good or bad?
(Hopefully you got past the pictures and actually read this...)
