10 Responses

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Continuing the Discussion

1. Carol Smith said

   on May 13, 2013 7:51 am

   Conscious computing to the rescue:

   http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/10/conscious-computing-twitter-facebook-google

2. MaryBx said

   on May 13, 2013 8:04 am

   RT @sabram: The Internet May Not Be Doing Our Brains Much Good [Video]: They said the same thing about books…. http://t.co/08ppfEEGnO

3. Carol Smith said

   on May 13, 2013 8:12 am

   Carol Smith liked this on Facebook.

4. Mary Downing said

   on May 13, 2013 8:12 am

   Mary Downing liked this on Facebook.

5. Sue Myburgh said

   on May 13, 2013 8:46 am

   I don’t think that Nicholas Carr is suggesting that we should memorise everything. It was Socrates, I think (and I stand to be corrected) who feared the written word because he felt it would erode our memories. And he was quite correct. Who can recite the whole Iliad nowadays, or even any of the ballads of the middle ages, as was quite common? I think Carr’s point is that we are constantly distracted, and we do not stop to think and analyse and digest. And in this I believe he is quite correct.

6. Carol Smith said

   on May 13, 2013 9:23 am

   My concern is not so much about memory as it is about cognitive focus. I do sometimes wonder whether education’s growing emphasis on group work adversely impacts our ability to engage in deeper, sustained thinking. Groups engage each other at a particular cognitive level. I don’t want to call it a shallow level; let’s just call it broad, lateral thinking. Deep thinking (“going deep”), though, is ultimately an individual pursuit. Both individual, deep thinking and broad, group thinking are important. don’t think modern society values both equally or balances them very effectively. And digital distractions can definitely get in the way of deep thinking.

   Susan Cain’s “Quiet: The Power of Introverts” has much to say on this issue. I highly recommend it.

7. Wei Neudorf said

   on May 13, 2013 10:42 am

   Wei Neudorf liked this on Facebook.

8. Coral Sheldon-Hess said

   on May 13, 2013 12:51 pm

   Nicholas Carr is such a troll. It was a cute video and all. But it reads as false to me as the panic about reading from screens instead of paper. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=reading-paper-screens

9. InformationMan2 said

   on May 13, 2013 11:35 pm

   RT @sabram: The Internet May Not Be Doing Our Brains Much Good [Video]: They said the same thing about books…. http://t.co/08ppfEEGnO

10. hamishcurry said

    on May 13, 2013 11:52 pm

    New The Internet May Not Be Doing Our Brains Much Good [Video] – Stephen’s Lighthouse http://t.co/sTnVtUrCEL