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Internet Brain Changes
Aug. 19th, 2008 08:32 pmHere I am, back from MythCon (for which I only had to drive 45 minutes) and still in the midst of busy times, as I have a deadline this week and another one next week. I keep expecting things to get back to normal one of these days, where I have a regular schedule and a feeling of continuity from one thing to the next. Then I wonder if that's a mythical state of consciousness that didn't really ever exist anyway. A girl can dream, right?
I definitely plan to talk a bit about MythCon, but an article I just read in Atlantic Monthly has demanded my primary attention. It came back in at the library today and the cover of the magazine, which read "Is Google Making You Stoopid," got my attention. The article itself, by Nicholas Carr, isn't about Google in particular (though it does get some dominant mention), but the internet in general. Carr argues that the internet is making it difficult for people to focus on longer texts, that he and many others have experienced how hard it is to read a long piece of print. He cites examples of neuro-science that show how the brian is malleable and its processes reflect the way it receives information. But what I find interesting is this, as it applies to me. When I am on the computer, with the internet as an active possibility and the myriad of tasks present on my desktop that I could be doing other than the one I'm working on, I absolutely find myself distracted and unable to focus. This was the main reason why I unplugged my laptop, disabled the wireless connection, and worked from the living room couch a good chunk of the time when I was writing my novels. (I recall this being true of writing my thesis in college, as well--I had to turn off the internet to get my writing done.) I work well on a laptop that serves solely as a word processor. Because I often require internet as a way to get information for what I'm writing, having the ability to turn that back on is useful--but once I'm focused on the writing, it has to go away, or I'm distracted.
By contrast, when I'm reading a novel, distractions remain annoying interruptions, irritations, and aggravations. Even things I normally enjoy--phone calls, getting together with friends, going out for ice cream, going to the beach--irk me instead of being met with enthusiasm. So here is what I suspect is the flaw in Carr's theory: the internet may well change the way we think, and, if unchecked by other forms of reading, it may well affect our ability to read print. But if it remains balanced by other forms of reading (prose, poetry, novels, nonfiction tomes, comics), then it has *less* opportunity to impact how we think. A novel is still a novel, and reading them is still one of my greatest joys and favorite past times (otherwise, why in the world would I want to create them?). And the type of reading that they require of me--that difference between internet reading and prose reading--is one of the reasons I so seldom read fiction online. If there's a story I want to read, I often print it out and sit somewhere where I won't be distracted by pop ups or links. (I know. Bad for the environment. I do reuse paper, if that's a consolation. And I recycle. I'll make a bigger effort next time to buy post-consumer recycled paper, now that I've got my own conscience irritated with me).
What do you think? Has online reading affected how you read print? Am I alone in my reading habits? And what about reading e-books on a portable device--like your iPhone, which has an e-book reader app downloaded by one of four or five users?
I definitely plan to talk a bit about MythCon, but an article I just read in Atlantic Monthly has demanded my primary attention. It came back in at the library today and the cover of the magazine, which read "Is Google Making You Stoopid," got my attention. The article itself, by Nicholas Carr, isn't about Google in particular (though it does get some dominant mention), but the internet in general. Carr argues that the internet is making it difficult for people to focus on longer texts, that he and many others have experienced how hard it is to read a long piece of print. He cites examples of neuro-science that show how the brian is malleable and its processes reflect the way it receives information. But what I find interesting is this, as it applies to me. When I am on the computer, with the internet as an active possibility and the myriad of tasks present on my desktop that I could be doing other than the one I'm working on, I absolutely find myself distracted and unable to focus. This was the main reason why I unplugged my laptop, disabled the wireless connection, and worked from the living room couch a good chunk of the time when I was writing my novels. (I recall this being true of writing my thesis in college, as well--I had to turn off the internet to get my writing done.) I work well on a laptop that serves solely as a word processor. Because I often require internet as a way to get information for what I'm writing, having the ability to turn that back on is useful--but once I'm focused on the writing, it has to go away, or I'm distracted.
By contrast, when I'm reading a novel, distractions remain annoying interruptions, irritations, and aggravations. Even things I normally enjoy--phone calls, getting together with friends, going out for ice cream, going to the beach--irk me instead of being met with enthusiasm. So here is what I suspect is the flaw in Carr's theory: the internet may well change the way we think, and, if unchecked by other forms of reading, it may well affect our ability to read print. But if it remains balanced by other forms of reading (prose, poetry, novels, nonfiction tomes, comics), then it has *less* opportunity to impact how we think. A novel is still a novel, and reading them is still one of my greatest joys and favorite past times (otherwise, why in the world would I want to create them?). And the type of reading that they require of me--that difference between internet reading and prose reading--is one of the reasons I so seldom read fiction online. If there's a story I want to read, I often print it out and sit somewhere where I won't be distracted by pop ups or links. (I know. Bad for the environment. I do reuse paper, if that's a consolation. And I recycle. I'll make a bigger effort next time to buy post-consumer recycled paper, now that I've got my own conscience irritated with me).
What do you think? Has online reading affected how you read print? Am I alone in my reading habits? And what about reading e-books on a portable device--like your iPhone, which has an e-book reader app downloaded by one of four or five users?
