The Internets Effects on Students Brains

This post also appeared on my education blogEquipping Educatorsand originally appeared in my newsletter, which you can sign up for here on my main Web sitewww.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 entitledIs Google Making Us Stupid?Carrs 2010 follow-up to the article is the book entitledThe Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. Carrs 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 wethink.

Needless to say, after the articles 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. InThe 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 meanbrains.

Many parents protect themindsof their children by monitoring content. But Carrs 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 childrens 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 childrens brains. Recently, Iwrote about this on my parenting blogbecause it is Brain Awareness Week. Over and over again, studies show that childrens 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 lets make sure we are integrating its use with wisdom and balance. Studiesreveal 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.