It’s frightening to think, but there’s strong and growing evidence that search engines and the technology of smart phones are rewiring how our brains process and retrieve information – to our hurt.
There a great article in The Atlantic magazine right now: Is Google Making Students Stupid?, a review of Nicholas Carr’s new book, The Glass Cage: Automation and Us. Both article and book analyze the dangers of information technology and automation.
My own experience as a teacher of 5th-12th grade homeschool students in effective communication and critical thinking classes support the article’s premise — a student’s ability to memorize information appears to be on the decline. Actually, it’s not just students, but anyone who makes a habit of using the internet and apps instead of cultivating their memories.
Here’s a short excerpt from Carr’s book: “The effect of ubiquitous spell check and AutoCorrect software is a revealing example. Psychologists studying the formation of memories have found that the act of generating a word in your mind strengthens your capacity to remember it. When a computer automatically corrects a spelling mistake or offers a drop-down menu of options, we’re no longer forced to generate the correct spelling in our minds.”
Take a look at the article. Do your own research. How we raise our kids to think has never been a more important topic.
A closing excerpt from the article: “Carr notes that the word “robot” derives from robota, a Czech term for servitude. His book is a valuable reminder that if we don’t carefully examine the process that makes us dependent on technology, our position in the master-servant relationship can become the opposite of what we imagine.”
