It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.
-Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Carr opens his article by talking about how his mind has 'changed' - from being able to sit down and read through hours of prose, to being able to barely finish 4 paragraphs in a blog. I can completely understand where he's coming from. While personally I can still sit down to read a novel (when school isn't in session and there isn't homework to get done), I find it very difficult to sit down and read, especially for class. I have to break up textbooks and long articles online into smaller parts, and I start to skim or "power browse" as Carr puts it.
In a way, it's very disheartening. I feel like I could be missing out on the point of what I'm reading. Unfortunately though, with this 'new' technology, I feel like we are expected to do so much more - or we are lead to believe that we can fit so much more in to our day. In all honesty, if I were to read every assigned reading word for word, page by page, I would never have time to do anything else for myself. With the internet at my fingertips I can easily hop online, search a key word and browse, going from page to page just like Carr mentions. I learn the material in short bits - skimming the hard copy textbooks, reading headlines and bold words, and using the internet to find miniature descriptions that will give me what I need to know.
There are simply too many distractions out there that it's hard to stay focused on just one thing at a time. Psychology tells us that the older you are the more your selective attention (ability to focus on one thing) increase. While your self control may increase, I think the internet (and "power browsing") definitely hinder that ability. I'm not sure yet where I stand on this... it could be a good thing - you can learn more information in a shorter amount of time - but it can also be a bad thing: are you really learning all you can learn, or are you just scratching the surface?
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