Research Paper (Part 2)

Student’s Name: Chang Liu

Professor’s Name: John Allen

Course: Writing 1

Date: 04/07/2018

Internet and human thinking

Human thinking and the internet are two emerging issues. The internet is a recent development that has been growing with an alarming rate. Modern life has improved due to immense contribution of internet in communication and information sharing. Internet has made life efficient, easier and more convenient. It is used by people to communicate with people around the world, doing business, making new friends, familiarizing with different cultures and searching information among other things. Despite Internet allowing communication through the email, it also ensures easier ways to retrieve information, images, and products among other things. This concept has been continuously developed and make life easier for the web users. Despite a lot of advantage and benefits of using internet, there are evident drawbacks that associated by the rise of internet. How internet affect the human thinking is a new emerging issue that has caught attention of different scholars. Carr (2008), conducted a study in 24 brains that were scanned while using google search, the researcher found that the persons who had more experience with google had increase actions in more parts of the brain, more specifically the front cortex. This part is for seat consciousness which is used for decision making. The good news here is that web surfing engages so many brain tasks that are major catalysts to make the older people brains clear.

Therefore, this essay aims at critically evaluating how internet has affected the human thinking (brain). As a result, the essay will provide insights on the following questions. How is internet making humans stupid? What are the subsequent results of using google, a) positives b) negatives? How has google impacted the lives of different demographics? At the same time, the paper will develop a counter argument on the topic under investigation (Carr, 2008).

Encuentra, Fernández, & Gómez-Zúñiga (2016) states that human thinking has been greatly affected by the internet. In his study google effect on memory, he proves that human has become sensitive. He argues that we don’t remember as much as we should, but we remember how to Google for answers. In the experiment, college student depicted that they remembered less information when with knowledge that they would access the information later. Rather, they remembered the pathway to use to find it again. Many admitted being familiar with the hyper link and the name of the folder in a computer. An example is when the boss request for a client number, but one says they can’t remember they have it in the email. This is just a single instance where internet is becoming the human external hard drive. It has become the key form of external memory where information is stored collectively outside (Encuentra, Fernández, & Gómez-Zúñiga, 2016).

At the same time, children are learning differently. Sometimes earlier, it required students to remember dates, names and some information. However, nowadays kids do not need to remember all the details. The online libraries provide details faster, efficiently, and more accurate. Encuentra, Fernández, & Gómez-Zúñiga, 2016) Positions that memorization is now not part of education. They state that information now reaching human faster, easier than we can digest. According to him, memorization is not significant as the brain can be used to keep vital information than the one which is readily available.

The internet has influenced the human brain by continuous partial attention (CPA). Many believe that this concept is a distraction while other believe it is an adaptation of the brain to constant flow of stimuli. Presently, we are living in era of information age. Whereby we are opened to a lot of data and information. The internet has provided tons of information while posing real time connectivity that may be a distraction to human life. Due to this reason, the interruption age has surpassed the information age. This is due to overabundance of information. People are disrupted by emails, spams, instant messages, pop ups, advertisements among others. This has made attention a scarce resource in this era. It’s worth noting that continuous partial attention can lead to higher level of stress in the brain, prohibiting, reflection, observation and thoughtful decisions. Again, CPA dilutes efforts to emphasis and concentrate on present. The continuous connectedness affects the productivity levels. This leads low productivity, over stimulation and lack of fulfillment (Encuentra, Fernández, & Gómez-Zúñiga, 2016).

Similarly, the information age has made humans not to bother remembering. The access to data anytime, anywhere through the search forum like google is affecting the human memory. This changes the functionality of the brain. With so much information at disposal, the need to remember everything is less. In the study consequences of having information at the finger tips, the researcher performed experiments into how the human brain use memory diversely when computer is involved. There are less efforts to remember when search engines are available. In one experiment, about sixty Harvard students were requested to type 40 pieces of trivia like an ostrich eye is bigger that its brains, into computer. Then they were alerted that information would either be saved or erased. The results were as follows. People who believed data would be saved were less likely to remember. On the other hand, those who were told the data will be erased were likely to remember the trivia. The results of the experiment suggested that when faced with difficult questions, people are informed to think about computers. Also, when humans anticipate having future access to information they tend to have lower rates of recall and advanced recall of where to access it. Additionally, the research concluded that people search for search for knowledge first (Ng, 2015).

In addition, humans are getting better in searching information. Humans are getting better in finding information than remembering it. It seems that the brain power that was used retain facts and remember information has been directed to searching information. According to Ng, (2015) we remember less through knowing information itself than knowledge of where information can be found. He also noted that humans are adapting to new technology and becoming vastly proficient in recalling where to retrieve information (Ng, 2015).

On the other hand, despite numerous effect of the internet affecting the way humans are thinking, there are various ways in which it has aided humans. One it has led to growth in communication in any part of the world. Improvising email has allowed humans to communicate with anybody in any part of the world. It is now possible to send a message in any part of the world and it is delivered in a matter of second. Also, companies and organization can communicate using an email to transact business. The efficiency of the email has enabled companies to communicate with vendors and customers in every part of the earth. Chat rooms and video conferencing are the latest add-ons and they have aided to have chats in real time. Such advances have created room where humans can share thoughts and explore diverse cultures. Second and arguably the biggest benefit of internet is the tons of information provided by the internet. Any information on any topic that exist in the world can be found on the internet Numerous search engines like google, yahoo, Bing has made information easier, quick and efficient to find (Siddiqui & Singh, 2016). The information varies from government law, technical support, market, new ideas and the list is endless. Other benefits include ability to do research any time any moment anywhere. Information is on numerous levels of study from scholarly articles to comical. Also, information forums where people can discuss ideas. this increases capability to get wide variety of information. Friendships and love connections have emerged due to passions and same interests.jobs have been created by the internet. This includes academic writing, and freelancing. The benefits of internet surpass its drawbacks. Again, despite the few drawbacks that are evident in the society, one can conclude that internet has created more efficiency, benefits than the harm (Siddiqui & Singh, 2016).

Conclusion

The internet is a recent development that has been growing with an alarming rate. Modern life has improved due to immense contribution of internet in communication and information sharing. However, internet has influenced human thinking negatively and positively. One we don’t remember as much as we should, but we remember how to Google for answers. At the same time, children are learning differently. Sometimes earlier, it required students to remember dates, names and some information. However, nowadays kids do not need to remember all the details. The access to data anytime, anywhere through the search forum like google is affecting the human memory. This changes the functionality of the brain. On the other hand, internet has led to growth in communication in any part of the world. Also, companies and organization can communicate using an email to transact business. The efficiency of the email has enabled companies to communicate with vendors and customers in every part of Earth. So, technology and the Internet have advantages and disadvantages, everyone should have different opinions about technology and the Internet.

References

Carr, N. (2008). Is Google Making Us Stupid? Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 107(2), 89-94. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7984.2008.00172.x

Encuentra, E. H., Fernández, M. P., & Gómez-Zúñiga, B. (2016). The Internet and Older Adults. Engaging Older Adults with Modern Technology, 212-228. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-1966-1.ch011

Ng, W. (2015). Adopting New Digital Technologies in Education: Professional Learning. New Digital Technology in Education, 25-48. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05822-1_2

Siddiqui, S., & Singh, T. (2016). Social Media its Impact with Positive and Negative Aspects. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, 5(2), 71-75. doi:10.7753/ijcatr0502.1006