ARE WE RE-WIRING OUR BRAINS?
Were you online today? Did you check your email , read a favourite blog, watch a video or look at some pretty pictures on Pinterest? Did you Google a question – perhaps the price of a pup tent at Canadian Tire, how to repair the damned hot water system on your sailboat, or look up a quick (probably untested) recipe for a salad using yesterday’s leftover grilled corn on the cob? As the day waned, did you download a movie to chill with or play a little Scrabble or World of Warcraft?
Is that a stupid question? (Or a series of stupid questions. There are rather a lot of questions in this post.)
The internet has certainly changed the way we spend our time, hasn’t it? I’ve been wondering if the glut of easily accessible information and addictive entertainment available to us in today’s computer age inhibit our ability to read and think deeply? Is it changing the way we actually process information, and consequently the decisions that we make? Is it depriving us of time spent face to face with our families and friends, with other human beings in the flesh?
Yes, of course we are, in some ways, better informed than we ever were. But to what degree is the information that we swill around and regurgitate really valuable to us? The internet, whether Google or Wiki or whatever, puts the answer to any question at our fingertips. There is no lag time. We no longer have to physically go to a library, conduct any thoughtful research, skim and search for the right book or books and read copiously to find what we are looking for. We no longer have to consult with people who may have expertise or first hand experience addressing the problem we face. We barely even have to go to a store and browse to figure out what to buy.
Is the information that we so gladly grab and gulp really reliable? Or is it overly filtered by the intermediaries of advertisers, bloggers and corporate websites? Does it deprive us of both the burden but also the opportunity of gathering perhaps more information than we need and then having to filter it, synthesize it, analyze it and think deeply about it, forming our own conclusions and opinions in the process, and even stimulating our own imaginations? Did not this experience in fact help to form as well as to inform us as intelligent and discerning human beings?
What skills and abilities will the current generations, growing up with no other way of being, be lacking? Should we be worried? The answer appears to be: HELL YES!
BEWARE OF MONKEYMIND
Have a look at this interesting blog post by David Rainoshek, which, though it focusses on FaceBook, discusses at length the addictive impact of the internet in general on our brain chemistry and structure, and our well being. It rich with references, links and even a Ted Talk. It also references Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows, in which…
“… he argues that the internet’s ‘cacophony of stimuli’ and ‘crazy quilt’ of information have given rise to ‘cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning’ – in contrast to the age of the book, when intelligent humans were encouraged to be contemplative and imaginative.”
And as for entertainment, I wonder, completely aside from the impact of the prevalence of gratuitous and ubiquitous digital violence in many video games these days, if playing with computers, mostly by ourselves, even if we sometimes play with virtual versions of our friends online, or with a multitude of strangers, deprives us of something essential. And don’t even get me started on mindless Reality Television, which it seems to me is a glorified excuse to intrude into the private lives of pathetic strangers and to glibly judge and criticize and ridicule them.
It used to be, not so very long ago, that people sat around the kitchen table, and along with the game board, the cards, the playing pieces and score sheets, spread out drinks and snacks, might have listened to music. In between turns, we might have conversed on all manner of topics, exchanged jokes and stories. As well as entertainment, we used games as a medium to get to know people better, and as a way to educate and train our children in the social arts. Playing games was an excuse to have friends over, and having friends over was an excuse to play the games we loved.
“…HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF THINGS JUST FLYING THROUGH YOUR CRANIUM IN A HEAP”
Now I fear that our children are growing up without the advantages that these slower, more social modes of interaction and learning provided. We can’t possibly know what this will mean for them in the future, or how these changes are affecting our world on so many levels. But the research certainly suggests that it ain’t good. And worst of all, while the majority of people spend more and more time tethered to their computers for one reason or another, I have to wonder what the governments and power brokers of the world are doing behind our backs? It seems to me they could do pretty much whatever they wanted and no one would even notice, until it was too late.
One of the most delightful and rewarding experiences of my summer so far has been spending time in a small, rural community. In fact an island, where community life is still alive and well, and being outside in nature doesn’t require a decision, a negotiation or a car ride. There have been community meals, live performances by local and visiting musicians, a readers and writers festival with recitations and readings of both world class and local poetry and prose, and even beer tastings. A bike ride down a quiet country road, overlooking pastoral views of farmland and the sea, swims in small lakes, weekly visits to community and farm markets and satisfying yard and garden projects that rival any expensive holiday abroad.
My advice: Take a break from the computer this summer if you can. Pull out the old-fashioned board games and a deck of cards and gather ’round the kitchen table. Take a stroll to the local library and spend some time just browsing in the stacks. FInd a paper book and read it in a lawn chair. Start a conversation with your next door neighbour over the back fence. Look around your own neighbourhood or community and discover what other people are doing, and engage face to face. You never know what might happen. You might have an original idea, and feel really happy to be alive.
And as if I haven’t asked enough questions already, what do you think about all this? Do you think you’re addicted to the internet? Do you think it’s hurting us and our children? What are you doing about it?