Theory: The Internet Makes Us Dumber
Compiled by Lori Gracey | Excutive Director | TCEA.org
Summary of the Belief: In recent years, a number of authors and neurologists have agreed that we are all becoming more stupid because of the technology we are using. Often referring to the plasticity of the brain, they argue that the Internet is rewiring our brains and this is bad.
Points About the Belief:
- It is certainly true that the Flynn effect has come to a halt in some countries. The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world from roughly 1930 to the present day. The reasons for this halt, however, are neither uniform nor clear.
- Betsy Sparrow, a professor at Columbia University has described the “Google effect.” She discovered that students remember information more easily if they think that this information is not likely to be available on the Internet. Her study also revealed that students are better able to remember where to find something on the Internet than they are at remembering the information itself.
- Along with this is the belief from the 1960s that media of all kinds are shrinking the attention span of children.
Resources:
- The Impact of Television on Cognitive Development and Educational Achievement
- ‘The Shallows’: This Is Your Brain Online
- Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips
- Cognition and the Web
Your Analysis:
Is the theory:
- Myth
- Unproven
- Based on truth
What This Should Mean to Teachers: