Boothbay Readings - Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Yesterday while on the plane I started to read Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us because it is required reading for the Heinemann Boothbay Literacy retreat. I am really enjoying it and will be posting my initial thoughts on the book soon. I hadn't checked one of my email accounts while traveling, but this afternoon I realized that a couple of articles that will be available at the retreat were emailed in advance for those who wanted to read them.

The first article was "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr. Here's my reaction to the article. It will be interesting to see if my thinking changes at all with the discussions that will surround the article at the retreat and to see others' thoughts. One of the first quotes that caught my attention was Carr's comment, "The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle." I can't relate to this. Despite the amount of time I spend on the Internet, I still enjoy reading widely and avidly. Yes, I agree, time spent on the Internet is time away from reading even more traditional texts. Often time flies by and I look at the clock thinking I can't be wasting that much time on-line, feeling like I haven't accomplished much. However, when I am on-line I am often blogging and checking in on other blogs. If anything, being able to share my love of reading with other bloggers has fueled my passion for reading.

Along the same lines, Carr also said, "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." Again, I can't connect to this. The Internet has provided me with access to awareness of educational texts/reading for pleasure that I might not hear about otherwise. I am reading more than ever, digging deeper than ever, contemplating more than ever, fueled by other educator blogs and information about educational texts. The Internet has played and will continue to play an essential role in my professional development.

However, there is potential for Internet to take over a lot. I resisted getting a cell phone for a long time because I could not justify the extra expense, and I didn't necessarily want to be on all the time. Now that I will be commuting more for my doctoral program, my husband and I decided it was time to take the jump and each get a cell phone. When looking at plans, we did not get a data plan. I don't want to be "plugged in" all the time because I already hop on the Internet enough. Having a data plan would ensure that I would be spending less time focusing on my girls because it would be so convenient to quickly check my on-line accounts/favorite blogs.

What do you think, has the Internet interfeared with your ability to read deeply?

I'm off to read the other article. I will post about it tomorrow.