Is the Internet making us stupid ?

Harris, John ( 2010 ) Is the Internet rewiring our brains ? Guardian G2 Supplement, 02/08/10

Carr, Nicholas (2010 ) The Shallows, Atlantic Books

The Guardian article quotes extensively from Carr whose book is published in the UK next month. It has already caused quite a stir in the US.Because of the finite amount of time at our disposal we are gathering small chunks of information rather than undertanding the larger picture. ( Wikipedis entries vs biographies )

Moreover online multi-tasking is destroying our capacity for reflection, contemplation and patience.Too much information a "cacophony of stimuli", encourages "cursory reading", hurried and distracted reading and superficial learning"And even more worryingly ... it's all addictive.

This is easy to measure by counting the number of times we open our e-mail inbox to find ( surprise, surprise ) that nothing new has appeared there...There are bound to be more reports of this naure when Carr's book is published I anticipate...