"Is the Internet Making Us Dumb? Digital technology is changing our brain, thinking and reading behavior": Recovering thoughts to talk to the world

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NvjPNznGF8miHynUtmsbzetlPg-4CYK4_06mSM2zSZCW7eQwpyr M2XuJ6EFb2CLrDA5ULzljLWGRUYG_kVLLS_HYCjx6N1zV5Jccd3OEXTvWob-yqGP7IjxnW4s3E8aWQn7suSHOHTiM/s1600/ipad-632394_1280.jpg)

I like reading books very much, not only because it is an affordable entertainment, or it can give me a calm space to think, but also because I can often gain some interesting perspectives while flipping through different books.

If you read “Letter to Young Journalists” before, you can just take stock and examine some of the past gains and losses in the development of media careers, then read “The Internet Makes Us Dumb?” This book “Digital Technology is Changing Our Brain, Thinking and Reading Behavior” gives you the opportunity to temporarily escape from the convenient Internet environment, rethink how to live in this rapidly changing era, and then cultivate the ability to think independently and focus on doing important things.

“A widely used media is a window through which we see the world and ourselves, and therefore shapes the things we see and the way we view these things - if we use it enough, it will one day change each of us and society as a whole.” The author Carl described it lightly in the book, but it was like a wake-up call to me. Once upon a time, I was accustomed to using online media to view the world. I skipped the process of reading newspapers and watching TV news. I didn’t even bother to explore and understand the truth. I just blindly pursued the fast “lazy bag” culture. Just like most netizens, they come to understand world events from the computer screen.

In order to help determine whether we have “[Internet Shallow Syndrome](http://blog.xuite.net/schoolteam/blog/60413310-%E4%BD%A0%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E5%BE%97%E4%BA%86%E3%80% 8C%E7%B6%B2%E8%B7%AF%E6%B7%BA%E8%96%84%E7%97%87%E5%80%99%E7%BE%A4%E3%80%8D%EF%BC%81)”, the author asked us to do a few simple checks, such as do you use search engines like Google every day? Are there often more than 10 web pages opened at the same time? Or are you unable to organize your life once you leave your computer or mobile phone?

Seeing these questions, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. My browser always has more than ten web pages open, and Google is my good friend. I always call it several times every day. Looking at the past life, it seems that every day starts with pressing the power button of the laptop. Whether for work or leisure, we rely on computers to connect to the world.

It is true that the convenience of the Internet allows us to complete long to-do lists at high speed, but the ability to focus and meditate seems to be stripped away bit by bit.

“At first, I thought this problem was just a symptom of middle-aged brain degeneration. However, I found that my mind was not only drifting away slowly, but also feeling hungry. He asked me to feed it through the Internet, and the more I fed it, the hungrier it became.” I couldn’t help but smile after reading this passage from the author.

To put it bluntly, maybe it’s because I have worked in the relationship between the Internet industry and the media in the past. Although I am used to the current situation of information explosion, I can’t help but feel deeply about information anxiety. In the past, I had to quickly receive hundreds of foreign news messages every day, and I always had to scan all the new articles on RSS Reader before I felt at ease.

I recall that when I worked on a portal website in the past, I often had to update a lot of information, but looking at the dense information on the web page, I felt an inexplicable sense of emptiness. Once upon a time, I also fell into a situation like the author said, “The more you feed it, the hungrier it becomes.”

Although from the title of the book “[The Internet Makes Us Dumb?” Digital technology is changing our brain, thinking and reading behavior](https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/vista/products/0010529486?utm_source=vista&ut m_medium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-201503)” can be seen that this book questions whether the Internet is the culprit that makes us dumber, but I do not think the author means to belittle Internet technology. He just pointed out the crux of the problem clearly, hoping that everyone can pay attention to the cultivation of intelligence and sensibility, and know how to make good use of various media.

The author takes the famous philosopher Nietzsche as an example and points out that this philosopher’s eyesight gradually deteriorated after the age of forty. When he concentrated on reading, he would suffer from dizziness and vomiting. For this reason, he ordered a “writing ball” (typewriter). After Nietzsche learned how to touch-type, he could close his eyes and type using only the fingertips of both hands, thus solving the symptoms of dizziness and improving the efficiency of creation.

Reading this place reminded me of my past creations. I have had similar experiences, and even tried voice input before (I still remember using IBM Via Voice) to write novels. Although it sounds a bit weird to use spoken words to guide the computer to type, but because of my love for new technologies, I am also willing to try it.

Going back to Nietzsche’s story, after a while, when he became proficient at using a typewriter, something interesting happened! Nietzsche’s friends noticed that his prose style had changed, becoming tighter and more concise. This amazing fact, just like Nietzsche said, “Writing tools will participate in shaping thinking” also made me start to think about the relationship between myself and computers.

If using different media to tell the same story can achieve different effects, then there are indeed too many issues worth pondering behind this matter. Ask yourself, can I, who usually enjoys writing, go back to the days of transcribing manuscripts?

Without the aid of computers and the Internet, can I still express my thoughts quickly and type out articles one after another? In addition to considerations of speed and efficiency, I also asked myself, do I still remember the feeling of writing when I was young? The special feeling of handwriting and mouthing is definitely not comparable to the pleasure of hands flying on the keyboard now.

The book also cites several neuroscience studies and points out that although the use of Internet technology will enhance certain brain functions (for example, playing computer games can enhance vision and hand-eye coordination) and generate more activities and neural connections, the author also uses the example of mentally ill patients to warn us that the more connections the better. What’s more, the impact of the Internet on us is not limited to when we are surfing the Internet. It may also change the way we use our brains, leading to symptoms of difficulty concentrating.

The Internet has made us more superficial, and different media may have similar problems. When we laugh at the fact that TV news channels have been reduced to YouTube videos or driving recorder playback stations, we fail to realize that we are actually understanding the context of the world from another limited medium.

The author also mentioned that in the past, people obtained information through newspapers, magazines or television, but now they view the world through Google. What’s even more frightening is that Google’s algorithm determines the search results of web pages. Although the company emphasizes the corporate spirit of “don’t be evil”, no one knows how it controls it? How do you fulfill your duties as a gatekeeper?

French biologist Lamarck put forward the famous “Use it or lose it” view, believing that certain organs of organisms that are frequently used will develop and increase, while organs that are not frequently used will gradually degenerate.

In this fragmented era, a large amount of fragmented information floods the Internet and TV media. We think we have gained comfort, but we do not know that this fast food culture not only cannot feed us, but may also weaken the public’s concentration and thinking ability. When the brain is used or lost, it has actually sounded the alarm for us, a group of people who are accustomed to the Internet.

After reading “The Internet makes us stupid?” Digital technology is changing our brains, thinking and reading behavior》That night, I deliberately unplugged the Internet cable. To be fair, although I am not a believer in “technological omnipotence”, the training I received in school or in the workplace has made me unknowingly a consumer who is proficient in using Internet technology. I even relish the convenience that technology products can bring to us, or feel complacent about the skills I am good at.

I, without realizing it, had fallen into a state of isolation.

The isolation caused by the disconnection of the Internet is certainly stressful, but compared with the isolation in sensory perception, there is a huge difference after all.

Herbert Marshall McLuhan, once known as the “Media Prophet” and the founder of modern communication theory (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A6%AC%E7%B4%A0%C2%B7%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%8B%E9%AD%AF%E6%BC%A2), once pointed out that the use of technology will inevitably produce an isolation effect. Whenever we use tools to increase our control over the external world, we change our relationship to that world. To have control, there must be a psychological barrier.

McLuhan believed that all media are extensions of human senses, thereby changing our behavior and thinking patterns. After taking a special course on modern media for almost a semester and being exposed to the issue of media literacy, I realized that to be a smart reader, in addition to paying more attention to what is happening around us in life, we also need to start from our daily routine.

After reading this book, I think I will still use the Internet a lot, but I know how to start thinking about the importance of white space, and let myself become an island when necessary. Occasionally disconnecting will not hinder one’s dialogue with the world. As the author mentioned, “We should not let the glorious side of technology cover up our inner vigilance, making us unable to realize that the important part of ourselves has become numb.”

One more thing, I want to go to the stationery store near the school to buy a manuscript paper, practice writing again, and write out the sadness and joy in my heart. Start by writing and thinking, and regain the simplest, ordinary but real pleasure in life.

♪ Image source: [pixabay](https://pixabay.com/zh/ipad-%E5%9C%B0%E5%9B%BE-%E7%89%87%E5%89%82-%E4%BA%92%E8%81%94%E7%BD%91-% E5%B1%8F%E5%B9%95-%E5%A4%9A%E5%AA%92%E4%BD%93-%E4%BF%A1%E6%81%AF-%E9%A4%90%E5%8E%85-%E5%AF%BC%E8%88%AA-632394/)

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