Every other year, Roberts sponsors a day of academic exploration, wrestling with current issues and concerns. We invite someone from outside our ivory towers to come in and rattle our cages, help us shake off the dust and see a bit more clearly what is happening out there in the real world.
This year we invited Nicholas Carr, author of "The Shallows: what the internet is doing to our brains." His contention is that our ability to think in certain ways is influenced by what we are engaged in. Our brains readily adapt to our actions, increasing size in one area, while letting atrophy decrease other areas of our brain. He builds his case carefully, citing other mind impacting technologies of the past such as the clock and the printing press and the map.
His concern is that the internet, with all its interconnectivity, all the media and hyperlinks and vast array of information, is causing us to lose our ability to think deeply and linearly and critically. We are learning to be only partially engaged momentarily with a topic, then flit quickly to the next, dragged away by some link or clip or distraction.
Discussions ranged from "I know I have been experiencing a frustrating inability to focus lately. This could be why." to "I wonder if this accounts for the increase in ADD and ADHD and anxiety disorders we are seeing now." to "I think I will find some ways to spend less time online and more time reading and connecting in person."
It was an interesting and thought provoking day. We shall see what comes of all the conversation.
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