A coworker of mine recently showed me the July issue of The Atlantic which contains an article by Nick Carr: "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?" The article primarily focuses on the new way in which each of us (our brains) are being programmed to seek out easily retrievable, concise snippets of information such as those found through Google searches or my newly discovered hobby, Twitter.
After discussing this topic with others and researching comments posted about this article, I, like many others, found this topic to be fascinating and nerve racking. I'm intrigued by the idea that the brain is malleable and can be shaped by whatever exercises we may put it through (can someone say Big Brain Academy?). I also find it to be disturbing that as I desire to learn more and more, I'm simply taking in snippets of information to satisfy my curiosity and quickly moving on, never giving myself enough time to deeply explore all my academic curiosities.
I confess to be a terrible reader, most often unable to sit down and read more than the inside jacket cover. To give you some more insight, I barely made it through the Harry Potter books (thank you J. K. Rowling for your easy-to-read series). If the information doesn't immediately entertain me, or if the plot line makes me store all this information to constantly revisit, I'd rather watch it in movie format (much more of a auditory/visual person) or read a quick magazine article.
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