The Impact of the Internet on Reading and Writing

• Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet is making us stupid because it is distracting us and making it difficult for us to concentrate.
• He cites a study that suggests that people are reading Internet materials the way that they would read materials in more traditional media - which is not the way that they are reading materials in the past.
• He argues that the proliferation of text on both the Internet and via text messaging has likely increased the amount that people read.
• Reading is not an instinctual human trait; it is something that we have to be taught.
• Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace.
• Carr paraphrases some of Wolf’s ideas, highlighting her assertion that reading is not an instinctual human trait and that the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains.
• Friedrich Nietzsche switched from pen and paper to a typewriter for composing his writing in 1882, and his friend soon noticed that the man’s writing took on a different quality. This suggests that the style of writing created by typewriter use is different than the style created by pen and paper use.

Explore the potential effects of the Internet on reading and writing based on the arguments of Nicholas Carr and related studies. Consider the implications of the shift in reading style and the influence of different technologies on writing, as well as the concerns about the impact on deep reading and cognitive abilities.