40 Minutes

Illustration by Glen Cummings/MTWTF (Photo: Getty Images)

First off, I’ve always been a reader.  I’m also the type  that finishes books quite quickly.  This is due to the fact that if I put a book down for a certain period of time I usually forget what I have read and most likely will not pick it up again.  If what I’m reading is really that enthralling to me than it’s hard for me to stop reading.  I like the rhythm of consistent reading, but that doesn’t mean I can’t handle certain distractions.

My requirement for class this week was to read for forty minutes with no distractions.  In other words,I could not stray from the words on the page for any reason.  I read the first chapter of Andrew Keen’s The Cult of the Amateur. I was able to read it through with no problems and my only reaction is that I read at a faster pace due to….no distractions!

Carr argues that young people are losing their ability to “deep read” in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”.  It’s my view that an average person can read deeply if they want to.  There are multiple factors that cause someone to not be able to “deep read” .  To begin with, reading online is generally more uncomfortable in my opinion.  Your eyes may start to hurt and I know that I generally read slower.  With that in mind, it is easy to hop from article to article having only skimmed.  Secondly, there are a myriad of distractions in today’s world including people, the phone, email, etc. but you can control those distractions and you determine how they affect you. He cannot generalize young people and I’d like to see more research on this topic.  Lastly, it’s a matter of taste.  You’re not going to be able to read deeply when you’re reading something that has of no interest to you.

I had five text messages and multiple instant messages alert me during my reading.  Did I want to answer them?  Well yes, because I’m a busy person and sometimes people might need to get in touch with me.  If I had responded to these distractions, would it have disturbed my ability to understand the material?  I think not.  In fact, it allows me to meditate on a particular idea and come back to it.   Does it slow down my reading time? Yes, but do I lose my ability to be analytical? No.

Whether I had focused solely on the reading or welcomed distractions, either way  I still think I would have come to the conclusion that I would like to read more of Keen’s book.

Everything Makes Us Stupid

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During the summer of 2008, the Atlantic came out with an article by Nicholas Carr entitled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” detailing how the internet may have adverse effects on human’s ability to receive information by effecting “concentration and contemplation”.  The article has stirred a broad discussion on how we interact with the internet and it’s effects.  In response to this article, Charles Arthur chimes in that it’s not Google per say or even the internet, rather it’s computer screens and how text is designed online that affects concentration. Carr cites Maryanne Wolfe’s expertise on the subject and who is a developmental psychologist at Tufts University (author of Proust and the Squid: The Story of Science of the Reading Brain) .

Wolfe worries that the style or reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace.

There is merit in what both writers are bringing to the table in that I feel like there is a lack of concern or a unawareness of how the internet affects people and society.  Carr’s argument has a negative outlook on how we are changing and with his provocative title he suggests Google as one of the main players contributing to the problem.  Whereas Arthur points out it cannot be Google alone, but rather other factors, including computer screen resolution and the inherent differences between reading online as opposed to a book.  The most important aspect that one should take away from this discussion is that the internet is effecting how we perceive and take in information and subsequently will affect our cognitive processes.  It’s important to stay open minded in that there isn’t one root to why and how these changes are occurring.  We need to consider that there are most likely multiple factors of how the internet is changing us and try to stay objective in determining whether or not these effects are a negative or a positive.