{"id":117067,"date":"2012-03-14T19:37:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T00:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/wading-through-the-shallows-is-the-internet-really-rewiring-our-brains\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:39:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:39:46","slug":"wading-through-the-shallows-is-the-internet-really-rewiring-our-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-ca\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/wading-through-the-shallows-is-the-internet-really-rewiring-our-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"Wading through the Shallows: Is the Internet Really Rewiring our Brains?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I distinctly remember reading Nicholas Carr’s cover story in The Atlantic<\/em>\u00a0a few years ago that asked the question, “Is Google Making us Stupid?<\/a>“. At the time, I was pretty dismissive of Carr’s hypothesis that the way we process the scads of information available to us in the digital age is actually changing the way our minds work, perhaps even for the worst. As a confessed technophile, I tend to focus on the benefits of the plugged in utopia in which we live and leave the hand wringing to the 21st century\u00a0Luddites. I remember the article so well, in part, because I really wanted to keep it to share with some people, but I accidentally left my copy on an airplane. I was probably too busy checking my phone.<\/p>\n

I’ve thought about Carr’s question often since then as I’ve witnessed the rise of the smart phone and experienced first hand what an overdose of connectivity can do to you. So, when I saw that Carr was giving a lecture on his new book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains\u00a0<\/em>at my\u00a0Alma\u00a0Mater<\/a> yesterday, I decided to check it out.<\/p>\n

Carr’s argument is more or less \u00a0unchanged, but he’s delved much deeper into the subject, looking at things like neuroplasticity and how the brain can literally rearrange itself and the way we process information as a result of external stimuli. He also makes some strong arguments about how studies have shown that new technologies from email to texting to Twitter have pushed us to value the immediate over the important. These constant interruptions and distractions make it hard for us to focus on a single task for extended periods of time, which means that the technology is pushing us toward more surface-level contemplation of the tasks we take on each day.<\/p>\n

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