Over the last five years, have you noticed a change in the way you read? Is it possible that we’re all getting dumber?
I was recently reading a well-known and somewhat disturbing article entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid“. In the article, author Nicholas Carr argues that Internet has changed the way we read, and in turn, the way we think. I think he’s on to something. He says:
…what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.
How true this is. Much of my reading is now done in bite-sized, easily digestible chunks. If a blog post is longer than a few paragraphs I skim it. Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters. If an email gets too long I skim to the end.
Later in the article, Carr quotes author and pyschologist Maryanne Wolf, who says:
When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.
This bothers me. Why? Because as a Christian, my spiritual life is directly linked to a book. God has given His words to me in a long, detailed book – a book that requires deep reading and even deeper thinking. In scripture, the man who is blessed is the man who meditates on God’s law day and night. What a foreign concept in our text-message world.
My concern is that my net reading habits, combined with my easily distracted sinful nature, could detract from my ability to go deep into God’s word.
I don’t plan on cutting out blog reading or email, but I may reevaluate my habits. I want to ensure that nothing is hindering my pursuit of God through his word. More on this later.
What about you? Do you think the Internet is changing the way you read?
Written by Stephen Altrogge
Topics: Books