Internet intelligence goes beyond book smarts

The information highway just got a little more crowded. There are now more than 1 billion people on the Internet, according to comScore, an Internet research firm. The Internet’s democratization of information has made a seemingly infinite amount of knowledge easily accessible. However, this also has its pitfalls.

Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet, wrote, “The notion that the world’s knowledge is literally at your fingertips is very compelling and is very beguiling.”

The question remains: Is the Internet making us stupid?

In an article in The Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet has negatively altered our way of understanding information because of the lack of “deep thinking” that comes from “deep reading.” In effect, our attention span has hit entropy, spiraling down into uncertainty.

Carr faults the Internet for feeding our inclination to skim. But this skimming is not detrimental; it has allowed us to gather main points ““ and thus read ““ more quickly. Attention span isn’t solely based on how long you can tolerate reading nuanced articles on esoteric subjects. With all the information that’s available, trying to absorb all of it is a rather futile notion. The more important task is to become filters of essential and relevant information.

Martin Greenberger is the IBM chair in computers and information systems at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute and president of the Council for Technology and the Individual. Greenberger said, “The use of the Internet can serve to supplement and enhance literary reading rather than supplanting it. TV is what numbs the mind, not Google or the Internet. They are interactive and stimulative. They should encourage deeper reading, not discourage it.”

Growing up as an only child, I plowed through crosswords and word searches ““ maybe this is what cultivated my ease and finesse with the Internet and Google. However, I cannot wholly deny my deficit in attention span, though I’d rather call it my relentless curiosity. Some people use the Internet for purely frivolous things, but it has helped others to thrive. New skills are evolving. The Internet facilitates finding connections and understanding surrounding context, which requires a more active kind of attention.

It’s not just what you know that makes you intelligent but rather the ability to pull all of those pieces together and see the relationship. Albert Einstein didn’t invent the individual parts to E=mc2. The parts already existed; Einstein just saw them in a particular light, understood the parts and made a connection.

Using the Internet is like solving a crossword puzzle. It is an analytical activity that requires you to define the parameters of your search, choose which results best answer your query then judge the validity of the information by seeking more sources or more information. This active pursuit of information engages important cognitive circuits in the brain, based on a study by the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute and director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center, concluded, “Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”

When you look up a location via GPS or look up a word online, the context is lost. However, Web sites like Wikipedia have hyperlinks ““ trails of related information that preserve the lost context in a new form. When browsing an article online, hyperlinks are sprinkled across the page, linking to other related articles and pages.

Sharon Traweek, an associate professor in the UCLA department of history, elaborated. “Different Internet search engines lead us into many new kinds of links between ideas and people,” Traweek said. “Searching at YRL shows us what the Dewey Decimal System juxtaposes. Trolling the sale bins at a bookstore or scanning course reading lists can reveal other patterns. Exploring various classification systems is useful for thinking.”

Wherever you begin, hyperlinks allow exploration to more information, building on your knowledge base.

In this way, there are endless opportunities to learn in a Web 2.0 generation. Small also notes, “Brains are developing circuitry for online social networking and are adapting to a new multitasking technology culture.” The premium put on engagement and participation allows a new way of contributing and learning. The more minds that are exposed to new and great works, the more inspiration and ideas are bred and discovered.

Just ask yourself: How many Wikipedia pages have you read for fun, and how many different newspapers from across the world are you reading? This diversity and wealth of information and opinion has made us more knowledgeable and about a variety of things ““ successfully turning us into “cultural omnivores,” a term used by Tak Wing Chan and John Goldthorpe, two researchers from Oxford University.

The Internet has become an extension of ourselves. While every individual may not be getting smarter, collectively, we are.

A billion down, 5 billion to go.

E-mail Tran at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].