In the Atlantic Monthly a couple months ago, there was an article called, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that discussed the different ways people now process information post-Internet revolution. The basic point was that before the internet became so popular, people read books, newspapers, and magazines in which information was developed throughout articles. Newspapers’ inverted pyramid structure (placing the most important info in the first paragraph) probably first approximated chunking techniques used in writing for the web.
With “chunked” text (shorter segments of more relevant information) readily available, we stopped truly reading. Instead, we skim web pages, looking for key facts or items that quickly pique our interest. If we don’t find anything, we move on.
Per the Atlantic author, this skimming technique has shortened our reading attention spans somewhat. We can barely be trusted to sift through a few paragraphs of text on a web page, never mind digesting an entire article.
For me, this is doubly true – once an (extremely) avid writer, I enjoyed journaling, etc. I found the impulse to write slowly wearing off until one day, I noticed the spaces between my entries were getting longer and longer, the articles themselves shorter and shorter. When my computer broke, I was beside myself, but I found myself reading the huge stack of magazines that had built up in my absence. Now, I can write again and I want to write again. Ideas for blog articles, things I want to “write out” via journal articles, seem to pop into my head every few minutes. Imagine how fun that is while driving.
Thus, while I wouldn’t say Google is making me stupid, it might be shortening my attention span. Reading quickly reverses the process, but I’d hate to ever get stuck in that ever-shifting rut of “Ooh, this looks interesting (click) . . . nah, never mind (click), but wait how about (click).” We’ve all been there.
*Side note: I’ve been reading up on journalism lately and, taking a cue from one article, have been cutting out some extraneous phrases and all conjugations of “to be.” Ok, I left some. It’s been kind of interesting, however, to see how differently the articles evolve.
I concur,
as part of trying to remain open minded so that I can stay true to any art form. I have been taking more time to read articles, the new yorker, plays, novels, anything really as long as its artistic.
plus…. reading in length is so much more relaxing than searching a website or watching tv. going infinite (thats the slang for when you start clicking, then you look at the clock and 7 hours have gone by) is a waist, makes me antsy.
glad to see you have written again, i need to get back on that horse myself…. besides the cryptologists are bored without my horrible spelling and grammar out there
hope you are well