Before the Internet, people were on their own to find information they were searching for. If one wanted to know a particular date in history or the formula for a calculus problem, they would have to spend significant time in a library searching through books. Now, these same actions can be done in a matter of seconds with Google. The human mind is not required to strain itself interpreting the words in a book or critically thinking when trying to find an answer. As mentioned in the article, this is causing our brains to expect answers without working for them. We are getting so used to the “efficient” way of obtaining information that we are losing our ability to really understand a long essay or paragraph. The article makes a valid point stating that reading is not instinctive, but learned. The human mind is taught how to interpret words and in turn, what way it should go about interpreting said words. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” If this were true, the human brain would cease to think for itself. It would never need to process anything to come to a conclusion. The Internet does not allow for independent thought. The creativity of the brain is seen as a “bug that needs to be fixed” as stated in the article. Our brains are adapting to the style of the internet, quick and to the point. Eventually, we will get to the point where we no longer think for ourselves but simply choose the fastest, most efficient route to solving problems.
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