
What the Internet is doing to our brains (2008) - ykv_name
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/?single_page=true
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everdev
I think we retain knowledge when we put it to use it regularly. With Google,
Wikipedia, YouTube, etc. you can quickly access information, but the retention
part is still all on us.

Pre-Internet when I had a question, I'm wondering if the fact that we have
accessed more information through Google but our total capacity for retention
has stayed the same makes us feel like we're dumber. If we can retain 200
things a year, before we'd retain 10% of all information accessed because we
weren't bombarded with as much, but now we retain about 1% or less because
we're getting hot with so much info whenever we want. But the quantity of
retained information is still constant (or maybe increasing), it just feels
like more information is skipping through the cracks because of the volume.

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AstralStorm
Even a specialist in a small research field gifted with great memory has
little chance to know and retain everything except most basics and what
they're doing right now.

The usual trick was to know in which book or paper to find what, or at least
which author. Search engines have made this part much easier.

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WalterSear
It's definitely giving a voice to milquetoast, unqualified and unexamining
journalism.

~~~
AstralStorm
Autor just got bored of reading and writing same mush every day and cannot
focus anymore.

I guess it is time to retire or change the vocation.

Alternatively, they could take the time and reacquaintce with actually good
writing.

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O1111OOO
Unplugging makes a big difference. I think what the author is going through is
the brains ability to adjust to it's environment.

It's not dissimilar to being in an active social setting for a period. The
brain reworks itself for better smalltalk, extroversion, glib remarks... when
you find yourself suddenly alone, there are pangs of loneliness until you
accept the downtime. Longer & deeper thoughts are possible after the
adjustment.

This even happens more quickly to us nightowls. You essentially rent out your
brain during the day (for social reasons, empathy, etc) but when night arrives
(and you're alone), the brain is free for your _own_ thoughts.

Funny thing about the easy access to information making us dumber. I see
parallels here to the handheld calculator. When I was in school, decades
ago... I refused to use a handheld calculator even though they were allowed
for math calculations. Not really sure if it made any difference in the middle
to longterm...

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increscent
Thanks for posting this. I experience the same problem as the author. Heck, I
didn’t even finish the article! :)

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remir
The reason I often don't finish articles is because there's too much fluff and
"story telling". Just go straight to the point and give me the facts with the
context so I can understand the information. I don't need to be told a grand
story.

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Hnrobert42
Funny. Ten years later, and I recognized it was an older article I’d read
before within a sentence or two. That said, without re-reading it, I have no
recollection of its conclusion.

