MR. LEE DIV. 9

Nicolas Carr wrote a fabulous essay in the Atlantic in 2008, which is still, or even more, relevant today. It was entitled, "Is Google Making us Stupid?" Having access to the "world's information at your fingertips" at first glance seems like a great idea--the more you know and all that good stuff. 

However, media theorist Marshall McLuhan noted in the 1960s that the "medium is the message." The internet is beginning to change how we think, simply because of its addictive, hyperlink structure. Although it may be a boon for a writer or researcher--being able to find resources, quotes, facts in seconds--as a reader, it sends people on wild (but often fun) goose chases all over a virtual landscape. 

Scholars at University College London conducted a five-year research program and found that people using the British Library and a U.K. educational consortium of journals, ebooks and other resources, found most people only read a page or two before jumping to another resource. They were skimming or "power browsing," seemingly trying to find quick answers to their questions.

Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University, described our internet reading 
style as efficient and immediate; people are now "mere decoders of information." Deep reading that creates rich mental connections are nowhere to be found. 

What's powerful about the medium of the internet, a computer system, is its all-consuming nature. It has swallowed up all the old technologies and reshaped and reformed them in its unique image: it is now a map, clock, printing press, typewriter, calculator, phone, radio and TV, according to Carr.

Interestingly enough, even Socrates (in Plato's Phaedrus) bemoaned the development of writing. He worried that the information that previously was stored in their heads would now remain only in written form. People would "cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful." Although some of his fears were founded, other wonderful benefits, such as expanding human knowledge and spreading ideas, made up for that loss. Similarly, the Gutenberg printing press in the 15th century brought along similar concerns: books would lead to intellectual laziness and weaken their minds, as well as "undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery." Of course, much of that did come to pass, but as did a myriad of benefits to society.

So in the end, are fears concerning the internet as unfounded as writing or the printing press? Perhaps. But Carr warns us, using Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, by saying that as we rely more on computers to understand the world, the more our intelligence becomes more robotic and artificial. Our humanity may be at stake the more we strive to achieve this superior or artificial intelligence. And wouldn't you know it, Larry Page told scientists at a convention that Google is "really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale." 

Source: Utopia is Creepy and other Provocations, Nicolas Carr, 2016


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Lisa Brahms and Peter Wardrip, University of Pittsburgh researchers, have recognized learning practices in making.

1) Inquire: openness and curiosity
2) Tinker: "purposeful play, risk-taking, testing" using a variety of tools, materials and processes
3) Seek and Share Resources: sharing knowledge and expertise
4) Hack and Repurpose: reuse and combine components in new ways
5) Express Intent: find one's passion and identity
6) Develop Fluency: gain confidence in one's ability through learning and practice
7) Simplify and Complexify: gain understanding of new ways to create meaningful things

Source: Free To Make, Dale Dougherty, 2016

People with ADHD suffer from impulsivity, which means acting without thinking beforehand.

Generally, until people are in their early twenties, their decision making and responses take place in the limbic area--the "emotional brain." There is less inhibition and evaluation of consequences, but as they mature, they begin to respond with the frontal cortex--the "rational brain." 

However, individuals with ADHD respond primarily with their limbic area instead of their frontal cortex. So they act or react immediately, without thinking of the potential consequences. 

People with ADHD can work on skills and strategies of delaying gratification and evaluating consequences, as well as medication if necessary. 


Source: The Disorganized Mind, Nancy A. Ratey, 2008

Erratic working memory and a faulty attention system (impaired executive functions) leads to procrastination. Think of working memory like RAM in a computer; without enough RAM, the brain forgets what it was working on, and moves onto the next task at hand. 

People with ADHD also have the uncanny propensity to forget or suppress their goals or important activities they need to complete and instead spend time on trivial tasks, even when they know the consequences of failure in these more critical tasks.

Yet, people with ADHD also "benefit" from procrastination, though probably in somewhat unhealthy ways. When they reach a point of "do-or-die," then a couple of things happen: cortisol (stress response and stress hormone) and dopamine (neurotransmitter of attention system) activate in the body. Suddenly, the frontal cortex is "turned on" and RAM and executive functions begin to work normally. Then these individuals are able to focus their effort and attention on the task at hand. 

Therefore, as painful as procrastination can be, people with ADHD still feel they are able to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute, which continues this cycle of procrastination. 

Source: The Disorganized Mind, Nancy A. Ratey, 2008

Learning takes effort. The harder it is (usually), the better you  remember and learn. A classic example is how many major tests are often structured: first, true and false; next, multiple-choice; then comes short answer; finally, there's the long-answer or essay question. The key is generation. If your choices are already there in front of you, as in the case of T/F or multiple-choice, there is very little effort and no generation of the solution. However, short- or long-answer questions require retrieval and memory pathways are strengthened as the problem is being worked out.

Another method in improving learning involves reflection. It only requires a few minutes of review after an experience or lesson. The cognitive activities involved are retrieval (recalling knowledge), elaboration (connecting new knowledge to previous), and generation (using own words to understand key concepts). 


Source: Make it stick: the science of successful learning, Brown, Roediger III, McDaniel, 2014
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