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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (12) Save Email Print Reprints Most Popular Most Shared UPDATE 1-BP's cap funneling oil to the surface-Coast Guard 10:07am EDT McDonald's recalls 12 million Shrek drinking glasses 11:01am EDT UPDATE 1-BP aims to stop 90 pct of oil spill flow with cap 7:32am EDT Containment cap placed on BP well -US Coast Guard 03 Jun 2010 BP begins capturing some oil from Gulf gusher | Video 11:03am EDT New Apple iPhone on tap but may fail to dazzle 7:01am EDT WRAPUP 6-BP begins capturing some oil from Gulf gusher 10:42am EDT Tobacco companies contest NY anti-smoking signs 03 Jun 2010 Turkey says may cut ties with Israel to minimum | Video 10:48am EDT WRAPUP 14-BP lowers containment cap onto crippled wellhead 12:38am EDT McDonald's recalls 12 million Shrek drinking glasses 11:01am EDT Book asks: Is Internet ruining our minds? 03 Jun 2010 Caffeine addicts get no real perk from morning cup 02 Jun 2010 BP's battered brand draws consumer opposition 3:30am EDT BP begins capturing some oil from Gulf gusher | Video 11:03am EDT Tobacco companies contest NY anti-smoking signs 03 Jun 2010 UK scheme for MS drugs "a costly failure" -experts 03 Jun 2010 New Apple iPhone on tap but may fail to dazzle 7:01am EDT UPDATE 1-BP aims to stop 90 pct of oil spill flow with cap 7:32am EDT Turkey says may cut ties with Israel to minimum | Video 10:48am EDT pictures Tech watch A recent sampling of our best pictures from the world of science and technology. Slideshow Book asks: Is Internet ruining our minds? Mark Egan NEW YORK Thu Jun 3, 2010 12:52pm EDT People use the computer at an Internet cafe in Taiyuan, Shanxi province March 31, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Stringer NEW YORK (Reuters) - When author Nicholas Carr began researching his book on whether the Internet is ruining our minds, he restricted his online access and e-mail and turned off his Twitter and Facebook accounts. Technology | Lifestyle | Media His new book "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" argues the latest technology renders us less capable of deep thinking. Carr found himself so distracted that he couldn't work on the book while staying as connected, as is commonplace. "I found my inability to concentrate a great disability," Carr told Reuters in an interview. "So, I abandoned my Facebook and Twitter accounts and throttled back on e-mail so I was only checking a couple of times a day rather than every 45 seconds. I found those types of things really did make a difference," he said. After initially feeling "befuddled" by his sudden lack of online connection, Carr said, within a couple of weeks he was able to stay focused on one task for a sustained period and, thankfully, able to do his work. Carr wrote a 2008 Atlantic magazine piece that posed the controversial question "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" and wanted to dig deeper into how the Internet alters our minds. His book examines the history of reading and the science of how using different media changes our brains. Exploring how society shifted from an oral tradition to the printed word and to the Internet, he details how the brain rewires itself to adjust to new information sources. Reading on the Internet has fundamentally changed how we use our brains, he writes. Facing a torrent of text, photos, video, music and links to other web pages combined with incessant interruptions from text messages, e-mails, Facebook updates, Tweets, blogs and RSS feeds, our minds have become used to skimming, browsing and scanning information. As a result, we have developed sharper skills at making fast decisions, particularly visual ones, Carr says. But now most of us infrequently read books, long essays or articles that would help us focus, concentrate and be introspective and contemplative, Carr writes. ARE WE LIBRARIANS? He says we are becoming more like librarians -- able to find information quickly and discern the best nuggets -- than scholars who digest and interpret information. That lack of focus hinders our long-term memory, leading many of us to feel distracted, he said. "We never engage the deeper, interpretive functions of our brains," he said. To illustrate, he likens short-term memory to a thimble and long-term memory to a large bathtub. Reading a book is like filling the tub with water from one steadily flowing faucet with each thimble of information building upon the last. By contrast, the Internet is countless fast-flowing faucets, leaving us grasping for thimbles of disparate information to put in the tub and making it harder for our brains to draw connections and have cogent recall. "What we are losing is a whole other set of mental skills, the ones that require not the shifting of our focus but the maintaining of our focus," Carr said. "Contemplation, introspection, reflection -- there is no space or time for those on the Internet." Carr says for centuries books shielded our brains from distraction, focusing our minds on one topic at a time. But with devices such as Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad, which incorporate eReaders and web browsers, becoming commonplace, Carr predicts books too will change. "New forms of reading always require new forms of writing," he said. If writers cater to a society that is chronically distracted, they will inevitably eschew writing complex arguments that require sustained attention and instead write in pithy, bite-sized bits of information, Carr predicts. Carr has a suggestion for those who feel web surfing has left them incapable of concentration -- slow down, turn off the Internet and practice the skills of contemplation, introspection and reflection. "It is pretty clear from the brain science that if you don't exercise particular cognitive skills, you are going to lose them," he said. "If you are constantly distracted, you are not going to think in the same way that you would think if you paid attention." (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Patricia Reaney) Technology Lifestyle Media Comments See All Comments (12) | Post Comment Jun 03, 2010 11:59am EDT It’s not the internet that’s the problem. It’s individuals that want to be butterflies instead of bees. They think it’s the superficial, rather than the profound, that is important. It’s perfectly possible for any sensible person to use the internet in a productive way. What is really the problem is television. It has taught many young people that if what you are watching doesn’t titillate you within ten seconds change the channel. Twitter follows in this path. If you can say it in one sentence its not important. Twitter may use the internet, but it ignores what is really important about the internet, the depth of information that can be accessed if you’re not perverted by the TV generation. Many of us pre-TV old timers don’t have a problem doing this. Turn off the TV and get off Twitter. Don’t be a Facebook or email junkie. Then you will be able to take advantage of what the internet really has to offer. Blaming the interest is a classic case of blaming the messenger. eaanders Report As Abusive Jun 03, 2010 3:37pm EDT It is the loss of local community that will affect us the greatest. We, as individual human beings, are not capable of living in the bigger world — there is too much information (we’re overwhelmed) and too little control (we feel helpless) — and so it affects us physically, mentally, and spiritually in adverse ways. We need to live in face-to-face local communities where the information is local (”Oh, I can understand that!”) and the control is within our reach (”Hey, we can easily work together to make that better!”). We need a revival of local community. With it, the bigger world — including the Internet — will take its rightful, subordinate position in our lives. MileMarker Report As Abusive Jun 03, 2010 4:25pm EDT I have these great devices! Anytime I feel my brain overloading w/ info on the Internet, I promptly use them for a few minutes & I’m refreshed & better able to focus. And best of all, everyone already has a custom made pair themselves! Have you guessed what these wonderful devices are? EYELIDS! Go ahead. Try it now. Now doesn’t that feel better? For what it’s worth…. GrayMatterGhost Report As Abusive Jun 03, 2010 7:20pm EDT I totally agree with Nicholas Carr’s thesis. I used to read plenty of books and was more pensive. These days, I’m on Twitter, Buzz, etc. plowing through as many RSS feeds as I can on Google Reader. Sharing one article after another. It’s a scary addiction. If you want to see what will become of our society read David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest”. Before we know it there will be the Ryan Seacrest/Lady Gaga Presidential Ticket. Where we sit in deluded satiation that we are more empowered than ever. peteravalos Report As Abusive Jun 03, 2010 7:21pm EDT If you think that the internet is taking away some mental skills then you are probably one the people who will be left behind and have yet to evolve which would make sense for someone who seems so lost. With all the information that is “overwhelming” can be said that as we get better at dissecting and consuming we can leave the rest to game theory what will happen next, best practices will be adopted and erroneous information will be filtered out. I mean if you look at what we do in our daily lives there are a few things that get past us and answers that are rarely left unanswered, collaboration is happening on grander scales and to connect to someone personally is no longer needed, we can connect with the world without a physical connection. Today you meet a group a people that barely understand you, tomorrow you meet a world of people that think just like you. Ryujin Report As Abusive Jun 03, 2010 10:24pm EDT I agree. That’s why we’ve seen an explosion of graphic novels in the States – kids and young adults who read these type of books either don’t want to, or can’t, formulate characters and scenes in their minds. They want someone else to do it for them which restricts the imagination and makes them mentally lazy. finneganG Report As Abusive Jun 03, 2010 11:49pm EDT I address this topic in my book “The Principle of Relevance”. My theory is that our minds have not consciously made the leap and evolved their ability to process information in this new world of continuous digital information overflow. We can train ourselves to control the way we process information by becoming conscious of it. Stefania Lucchetti Author of “The Principle of Relevance” (www.theprincipleofrelevance.com) Lucchetti Report As Abusive Jun 04, 2010 12:19am EDT The internet paved the way for a whole new generation of ADD and OCD misfits who can’t function at all in the real world. All you have to do is look in the car driving next to you sometime. If the driver looks younger than 40, chances are they’ll be texting while they’re trying to drive. gruven137 Report As Abusive Jun 04, 2010 12:19am EDT The internet paved the way for a whole new generation of ADD and OCD misfits who can’t function at all in the real world. All you have to do is look in the car driving next to you sometime. If the driver looks younger than 40, chances are they’ll be texting while they’re trying to drive. gruven137 Report As Abusive See All Comments (12) Add a Comment *We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. 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