Does Googling Make Us Stupid?

Leonard Pitts has written a very interesting article on Does Googling Make Us Stupid?. He is responding to an article in "The Atlantic" which talks about how our attention spans have shortened because of the internet and the ease of getting information. We are now programmed to scan information quickly, searching for what we need, rather than pore over books.

Now, I don't think anyone involved in scholarly pursuits would like to revert to needing to do all that research by the labor-intensive methods we used to need. I love the ease of being able to find what I am looking for with a few key strokes. It sure beats hours spent in the library only to discover that what you need is actually in a library in Europe! It is also helpful for answering all those random questions that my children come up with that I don't know the answer to. When I say, "I don't know," they immediately ask if we can Google it.

Still, I think it is true to say that we have been accustomed to sound-bites of information. I still read a lot of books (as regular readers of this blog are aware), but reading often does feel like a guilty pleasure. After all, if we can get the information we need in a three paragraph blog post, it seems like a waste of time to read a 200 page book. I agree with Pitts that there is value in taking the time to read the longer version, to develop ideas, and think about complex issues that can't necessarily be addressed in a short article.

So, yes, we need and love Google (and the various other search engines which have made life so much easier), but we need to remember how to assimilate larger blocks of information. Like any other skill in life, that takes practice. We need to continue to read books and to teach our children to do so as well.