Is Google making us stupid?

I found this article before I went away on hols and just thought that it was brilliant. Its from a magazine that I don't really know, The Atlantic.

It taps into something that I often sat in jest as I am sure that you do too, "how did we manage to do our jobs before Google?"

When I think about my life and the way that I have all the information that I could possibly want at my finger tips it just amazes me to think about a world PG (Pre-Google) For example, today I had a of a particular Boris Johnson interview on The Today talking about London2012. The interview had taken place sometime overthe last 4 weeks.  There was a specific quote that I wanted for a client presentation and sure enough Google "Boris Johnson The Today Show Olympics" and the transcript comes up. Brilliant.

But the downside of all this fingertip knowledge seems to me that somehow the way that my brain works might be changing. The WAY that I now work is "jump-style". By jump-style I mean, I start with a thought, a premise or an idea. Then jump to Google. Then I jump to a link. Then jump to a video. Jump to another link. Click through, Delicious it, then jump on. I am finding it harder to concentrate on long article, as I am always skimming and jumping.

This article by Nicholas Carr talks about exactly this phenomena, except in a more beautiful way:

"And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.”

I think its a great question, Is Google actually making us stupid?

Comments

[Mikej]

we had yahoo and then ask jeeves... which got me through school.
I have this feeling that being constantly connected means I dont need my memory. I often breeze over things online then save them on my delicious for later.
Multitasking with computers and online in general has limited my concentration span unless I shut everything down. I have limited my long writing pieces as well other than books.
I have to walk away at work with a pen a couple of bits of paper in a room to get any proper thinking done.
Great post. Glad Im not alone

[Asi]

It's a really thought provoking piece.

here is an interesting collections of reactions (including mine)

http://tinyurl.com/64pcu7
http://tinyurl.com/6ypamz
http://tinyurl.com/55au46

hope all is well

A.

[Victor Houghton]

The Independent had a similarly-titled feature today. I wonder if somewhere someone has manufactured a chart showing some kind of decline in the working of biological brains versus the multiplication of digital storage capacity.