This post also appeared on my education blog Equipping Educators and originally appeared on my newsletter, which you can sign up for here on my main website www.jodycapehart.com.
Brain research is one of the new cutting-edge fields in education. Every day we are making new discoveries that have a significant impact on the way we teach.
A more controversial and still under-explored and under-researched area is the effect the Internet is having on our students’ brains.
In 2008, tech-author Nicholas Carr wrote an article entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr’s 2010 follow-up to the article is the book entitled The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.
Carr’s argument in a nutshell is that the very nature of the Internet, with all of its distractions and tendency to promote short, easy-to-find content, promotes surface thinking and discourages reflection, contemplation, and concentration. With the ever-increasing ubiquity of the Internet – which has become the primary medium for work, entertainment, socializing, and educational research – the result will be a radical shift in the very way we think.
Needless to say, after the article’s publication many Internet enthusiasts jumped on Carr as being anti-technology, accusing him of failing to credit the many advantages the Internet has provided us.
In The Shallows Carr admits the Internet has its advantages. Yet he refuses to rescind his fears concerning the potential disadvantages the Internet may have on us.
My concern is primarily for our children and students, which is why I bring all this up in the first place.
At the risk of sounding like a fellow fuddy-duddy, I too fear the direction our culture is moving. Even more alarming, I worry about the long-term effects that our technologically saturated society will have on the brains of our younger generations. And I do mean brains.
Many parents protect the minds of their children by monitoring content. But Carr’s point is that the very nature of the Internet – on the whole – encourages shallower thinking over the type of in-depth thinking promoted by things such as book reading.
Yes, the Internet provides access to information at the press of a button. But access to information is not the same thing as being able to assimilate that information.
What children’s brains need most is interactive learning and language experiences to enhance brain connections and cognitive growth in order to build long-term memory.
I have always been an advocate of classical music in the development of children’s brains. Recently I wrote about this on my parenting blog because it is Brain Awareness Week.
Over and over again studies show that children’s brains develop best when there is actual interaction with an adult, especially in the area of language. When supported with frequent feedback, emotional support, and exposure to enriched environments, learning is enhanced. Spending ‘face-to-face’ time with an adult reading, talking, walking, and interacting are all invaluable for brain development.
I will be interested to see what studies reveal as a result of concentrated research and experimental study groups looking into the long-term effects the Internet has on our brains versus more traditional ways that have proven positives for our brains.
In closing, I want to add that I am not trying to demonize the Internet or technology. Rather, I want parents and schools to be wise as they implement technology and Internet use into the home and classrooms.
The point is not to remove these tools, but to use them wisely. They have many important advantages that we ought to incorporate in responsible ways. At the same time, we need to be aware of the effects that technologies such as the Internet have on young minds.
Ours, too. The Internet is not going anywhere. So let’s make sure we are integrating their use with wisdom and balance. Studies reveal that book reading is decreasing. This breaks my heart, and I am committed to helping parents and teachers change this.
So remember to read to your children and students. And not just blogs or articles online 
Open up a book and encourage them to think long and hard about something for more than the few seconds that go by before we click a new link.
This blog post was first published on 23 March 2011.
