subject: The Negative Side of the Internet [print this page] A lot of people now use the web, and because of the way in which it's used, it's my belief this is having an impact on our mind and just how it's used by us.
With me personally, as well as others, I'm sure it is true to stay with one thing when online. You go online with a specific goal planned, the very reason you turned the PC on to begin with, but you'll soon be distracted by something different, often, even before you've made a start on that which you turned the PC on in the first place for.
As a consequence of search engines, and how info is provided using the web, folks are now having difficulty with critical thinking, and find it difficult to pay attention to a selected task for a period. They'll frequently check their email, social networking sites, or other online distractions. Infact, this became a recent study by a UK University, who learned that the standard office worker switched between computer programs, online community sites and their email an average of 37 times per hour. A similar study was also shown to prove that continued interruptions increased stress levels as well as reduced short-term memory.
This study also demonstrates what was commonly know anyway, that is that human's constantly crave new information, and has been confirmed by what folks return to frequently online, it doesn't really matter which kind of information that is. Humans simply want to know as much as they're able to regarding what is happening around them, and as mentioned earlier, we'll frequently push something important aside, simply to gain some new trivial knowledge from a webpage, or an email, blog or tweet.
There's obviously a time and a place for everything, but there must come an occasion when we have to ask ourselves if we're aware just how much time we're spending discovering trivial information.
