Mind Control: Is the Web Changing How We Think?

of course, it is, thanks to Google!

and, the article is too long, it is distracting me from my multi-tasking activity.

Mind Control: Is the Web Changing How We Think?

yes,,,,,, just relax........do not adjust your set........let you mind go blank..........for we are in control.........you have just entered...........the twilight zone.

takes its place among a seemingly endless succession of innovations turbo-charging the medium

Yes, but is there not an interminable flood of %^&* on the internet ? Communication is great, but even with something as simple as mobile phones this has problems. School year starts, and local networks collapse. Why ? Because every teen (and younger) want to text at a rate of hundreds per minute. Why doesn't the internet connection deliver promised speed ? Streeming media.

I don't want anybody to pre-empt my search on the internet. Took me a full hour last week to turn off pre-emptive text on a cell phone.

Maybe I'll just go read the article now, but it has all the indicators of 'advance' that may be no such thing.

I just googled "Hessian Sack"... as part of my ongoing british education... and I agree... the internet is an interminable flood of %^&* with a bit of *(@$ thrown in...

First off, I was immediately annoyed last week by Google's Instant (default "On"), so much so, that I tried several times (unsuccessfully) to turn it off. Then I realized that one's "settings" depends on cookies. I have Firefox set to delete cookies at the end of each browsing session. So my settings didn't mean anything without persistent cookies. I thought I had found a good substitute in Ask.com but realized that their touted "Ask Eraser", which will erase your search history within a few hours also depends on cookies. I have switched to Ask.com just because they are trying harder to let people choose a higher privacy level. With Google you have to register and manually sign in to erase your history. You'd think that associating a browsing history with an IP address (which is usually the same for each computer) would be simple for any of these companies. Cookies should not be necessary for this sort of tracking. I guess the only way for anyone to be aware of Google's new feature is to make it the default. But I didn't and don't like it.

The article does help explain why I have a hard time having a sustained discussion with "younger" people. They almost seem to "jump" at the least distractions and are more easily interrupted in a conversation.

What is "deep" thought? I think I know what Mr. Carr means. The implication from his comments is that he means the ability to hold one idea or subject as the focus of one's attention. For how long? How do you quantify "deep" thought? 5 seconds? 10 seconds? A minute!?? Most people don't even realize how hard it is to focus one's attention on one thing for a minute -- much less several minutes or an hour -- precisely because they are not monitoring the process. The mind is very quick in successive thoughts and strays often without one even being aware of it. This is what the practice of concentration and/or meditation can reveal to one who attempts it.

I think TV has influenced "us" and how we think just as much as the Internet is doing. Ditto for video games, cell phones, texting, etc. Mr. Carr is correct in saying the tools we use shape our thinking. A better phrase might be, "creates 'habits' of thinking." Habits can be "unlearned." An analogy is someone who is on amphetamines. Take them away and there is a withdrawal, but also a return to "normalcy." (Some might argue that being on speed is better than normalcy, but without comparing it to other states of mind, especially those never experienced -- or forgotten -- would be folly.) Without specifying it, Mr. Carr is suggesting that some people need a "calm and attentive" mind. I would say everyone would benefit from trying to develop a calm and attentive mind. He is being politically correct to suggest only "some" would benefit from this. Another, extreme, example is autism. For the rest of us this seems like the extreme of the inability to focus. This same order of magnitude of "disconnect" can be seen in "normal" people by those who have had some experience and success in stilling the mind. Maybe some of you have had the experience of traveling abroad for extended periods of time and have had to "do without" certain foods and other "luxuries" in your life, only to find that finally "having them again" doesn't seem as "thirst quenching" as you thought they would be.

He is also right in noting that this ability is a prerequisite for reaching the "deepest sources of human insight and creativity." This is the crying need in our world. Try it... you'll like it.