I stumbled upon this article while browsing one of those claustrophobic airport newstands waiting on a late flight. The July/August issue of Atlantic Monthly features the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”. In it, the author discusses how the Internet may affect cognition, attention span and user expectations. With information readily available on the web, users tend to “power skim” articles instead of read. And one scientist worries that this style of reading will preclude our ability for traditional deep reading. Isn’t this a recycled worry from the days of MTV videos rotting our genXer brains? I think the worry is misplaced – I’d be more worried if we *couldn’t* adjust to the changing info landscape, a la the boss in Dilbert.
