The Internet is making us ‘Stupid’

It’s official now, the Internet is making us stupid. Internet has just been there for around 20 years , life without it is hard to imagine. It has given us instant access to vast information, even staying in-touch with friends and family has become easier.

According to a report published in The Telegraph, it says that,

‘A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.

People who read text studded with links, the studies show, comprehend less than those who read words printed on pages.

People who watch busy multimedia presentations remember less than those who take in information in a more sedate and focused manner.

People who are continually distracted by emails, updates and other messages understand less than those who are able to concentrate. And people who juggle many tasks are often less creative and less productive than those who do one thing at a time.

In one experiment at a US university, half a class of students was allowed to use internet-connected laptops during a lecture, while the other had to keep their computers shut. Those who browsed the web performed much worse on a subsequent test of how well they retained the lecture’s content. Earlier experiments revealed that as the number of links in an online document goes up, reading comprehension falls, and as more types of information are placed on a screen, we remember less of what we see.

Dazzled by the net’s treasures, we have been blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture.’

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