In 2008, Nicholas Carr wrote a cover story for the Atlantic posing a simple question, ''Is Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) making us stupid?'' That article set off a big debate, and became the basis for Carr's latest book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. On a recent Motley Fool Money Radio Show, Carr explained why the Internet and innovations like Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone and Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) Blackberry may be costing you more than you think. This is the first of two parts.
Chris Hill: So what is Internet doing to our brains, and, more specifically to my brain?
Nicholas Carr: It's turning us to perpetually distracted creatures. You know, we get huge benefits from the technology from all the information we have access to -- all the communication tools. But I think the emphasis of our thought is shifting ever more to skimming and scanning and processing lots of bits of information quickly, and we are losing the ability to actually pay attention to one thing for more than a few seconds.
Hill: Let's go back to that article you wrote a few years ago: "Is Google making us stupid?''
Carr: The editors of the magazine chose that title, but I have to keep answering the question. It's making us superficial. That's a word that has a lot of negative connotation, I know ... There are benefits to obviously having all of this information and to be able to jump around, but I do think that we are short-circuiting the kind of mental processes that underpin deep personal knowledge, and that also, by extension, have been the foundation for a lot of our culture through the years. I think it's making us more scattered thinkers, and in the end, more superficial thinkers.
Hill: Haven't we seen this before with other new mediums when they became popular -- with radio, with TV, even printed media like comic books, there's this notion that they will ruin the youth of or nation. What is different about the Internet?
Carr: I think what's different is that earlier media, earlier entertainment technology, were kind of segregated in some area of the day. Even television, which obviously we watched a lot and still watch a lot, we see it as a kind of entertainment device. The difference with the Internet now is it's with us all the time. It's bursting little messages to us throughout the day. The first thing people do now when they wake up is check their Blackberry or their iPhone. The last thing they do before going to bed is check their email. So unlike any other earlier media, this one is with us all the time. And it's imposing its way of thinking on us throughout the day.
Hill: One of the things you say in the book is that you personally don't find yourself thinking the way you used to think. It's changed the way you read. How did that happen?
Carr: The book comes out of my own personal experience. A few years ago, I noticed I started having trouble when I would sit down to read a book or a long article. I would get a page or two in, and then my mind wanted to click some links, do some Googling, or check my email. I realized that something that used to come naturally to me -- deep attentive reading -- had suddenly become difficult. And it wasn't just reading. It was the ability to concentrate on one thing and to pay attention to one thing. And I related that to the fact that the net and the Web and constant connectivity, which gives us all sorts of thing we enjoy, was imposing the need to be constantly connected and was stealing away some of the more quieter, calmer, more attentive ways of thinking.
Hill: So is it enough to recognize this is happening, and then make the conscious decision to set aside time to unplug?
Carr: I think it's important to realize that there are different ways of thinking, and if we don't practice them, we are going to lose them. The problem and the challenge is that the expectation of constant connectivity has now been woven into our work lives and our social lives. If your boss or your colleagues expect you to be able to respond to emails and other messages instantly, it's very hard to say, "I'm gonna take a break." And similarly, if your friends are organizing their social life trough Facebook and Twitter, there is a cost to backing away. But if you cherish and value the full range of thinking that human beings are capable of, I think you have no choice than to make some sacrifices and make some time to get disconnected.
In part two of our interview tomorrow, Nicholas Carr talks about the future of Apple and Google, and shares his thoughts on which company is more vulnerable.
