Week 3, # 7: Technology Post

Does this sound like anyone you know: "I'm not thinking the way I used to think. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do."

It certainly sounds like me. A recent article in the Atlantic Monthly by Nicholas Carr entitled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"(http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google) expounds on the notion that we have become "power skimmers" because of nature of the Internet media. Carr provides personal anecdotes from friends who agree that they no longer read longer pieces of literature. Text messaging has reinforced this emphasis on communicating in the briefest manner possible.The article also reviews how earlier technologies, even the typewriter, impacted communication-both writing and reading. Carr concedes that the research hasn't been done yet to explain why/if the Internet is impacting reading. But, he explains, the real question is this: Does the new Internet-type reading change the way we think?

I'm fascinated with Carr's explanation of reading as being non-instinctive, and thus easily lost. Carr intrigues me with his idea that today's Internet encourages us to think efficiently but not reflectively. He claims that the business world wants us to move quickly from page to even shorter page, thus putting their ads in our vision. The traditional media, he insists, has no choice but to bend to the way of the Internet. Carr includes many examples of how reading and thinking were impacted throughout history. He also quotes famous people from antiquity to the 20th century on the impending doom on society because of changes in our we process knowledge. This gave the article a feeling of perspective and history.

Carr concludes that our society will lose it's richness if we allow this to continue: "In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, ...we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas ...If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture."

Because I believe that Carr is correct in his assessment of our changing reading and writing, I see the librarian's role as the "balancer." We need to show our students that reading is as cool as I-Life. We need to work with our teaching staff to have them require that students read deeply and broadly within each content area. I'm as addicted to technology, particularly the Internet, as anyone I know, but I'd give up the Internet before I'd give up books. Luckily, I don't have to make the choice. If our students aren't taught to read deeply, the choice will be taken from them.

These ideas are not too surprising coming from a person who entitled her blog Live to Read. I'd love to hear what others think about the article.