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Are Our Brains Becoming “Googlized?”

searchengineland.com — Are our brains being rewired by using the Internet? The evidence tends to be pointing that way. With internet usage, a significantly bigger piece of neural real estate lit up on the fMRI indicating that more parts of the brain were engaged.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 16, 2008

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  • awesometastic1, on 11/16/2008, -4/+164i have noticed in the last year or so if i read too many online articles and things or spend to much time searching the internet for something my brain gets this weird *feeling*. Not like a headache, but my head just feels weird. If i walk away from the computer for 15 or 20 minutes my head clears and it goes away. When the weird feeling is at its peak i actually have a hard time thinking abstractly and have a hard time writing computer programs and my mind wanders very quickly and i completely forget what i was doing a few minutes (and sometimes a few seconds) before, though my ability to memorize things long term seems to be very high, but as i said my short term memory is almost completely gone. It's really weird. I assume maybe i'm overtaxing my hippocampus by doing so many short term memory type things constantly over a few hour period and thus it just needs a break. Anyone else have this happen?
  • uptwolait, on 11/16/2008, -0/+149Ironically, I was just about to stop reading the article when I came to the sentence "Carr contends that our attention spans are getting shorter and he worries that soon we’ll be unable to make our way through a book or even a moderately long magazine article." Then I felt too guilty to stop reading the rest.
  • inactive, on 11/16/2008, -1/+67“Googlized?”

    I dont know the meaning of that word... let me google it.
  • AppleMacStud, on 11/16/2008, -5/+65I'd rather be googlized than sodomized...
  • killtrocity, on 11/16/2008, -1/+51Happens to me all the time. I got worried for a while, when sometimes hours would slip by while I was online, and I didn't really remember exactly what I was doing.

    Sometimes I would get so confused I had to walk away and carefully think in order to get back to my normal self.

    I wouldn't call it bad, but internet searching definitely has a profound effect on my brain over extended periods of time.
  • Shiftyeyedgoat, on 11/16/2008, -1/+40Ha, crazy, I was just talking about this with Dr. Moody (the one cited in the article) on Friday. I work in the Bookheimer lab and we have many an experiment dealing with the fMRI: Alzheimer's patients, gifted children, and more minor experiments like this, dealing with hippocampal activity. We unfold the region of the brain after localizing and making demarcations and compute statistics with the fMRI data or paired PET scans.

    A big problem with the study was that the age disparity of "internet naive" patients was huge. The mean age was in their late 70s.

    Anyway, nifty to see the work that I'm doing in an article that is on Digg now.
  • Medicamusic, on 11/16/2008, -5/+36Of course- we're exposed to events when they happen from all over the world.
  • sapo916, on 11/16/2008, -0/+29Your pregnant with a neural baby, your mind will explode and a Google Monster will emerge.
  • stockgotti, on 11/16/2008, -0/+21First off, this is the most interesting article I've seen on the front page of Digg in a good while. It doesn't say that Jesus doesn't exist nor does it compare Jesus to Obama. It's about a revolutionary scientific study and it made it to the front page of Digg. WOW!

    Secondly, the findings of the internet's effect on the brain compared to that of studies that show the television's effect on the brain make one point loud and clear. Turn off the tube, and log onto the tubes.
  • jamesmcm, on 11/16/2008, -0/+19Resistance is futile.
  • Prototek, on 11/16/2008, -0/+18That happens when I study all day.
  • TunaFishGangsta, on 11/16/2008, -0/+17My capability to answer trivia is less than it used to be. The need for it has gone away as the internet became my personal Library of Alexandria.

    I'm still reading a lot of books, going out on adventures in nature, and getting a lot of exercise. It's the only cure from becoming an internet zombie. There have been times when I overdid it. Spent 16 hours a day online everyday for months at a time. I do believe that too much can fry your brain a little. Moderation is key. Do as I say, not as I do.
  • sockpuppets, on 11/16/2008, -0/+16We are Borg.
  • lolcat23, on 11/16/2008, -0/+15i get this too, i work with watches, which takes immense amounts of concentration, after a couple of good zen hours(with high focus). i suddenly lose all control of my focus, my mind starts to wander without controll and i just need to look up from the bench, stare somewhere far away(out the window) and let the mind wander for 5-10 minutes, then im good again.
  • DavidinBoston, on 11/16/2008, -0/+15Sometimes after too much time online, I'll be in the middle of typing a sentence and not be able to finish typ
  • BlatheringIdiot, on 11/16/2008, -0/+14It's all the same - in the end.
  • Murdats, on 11/16/2008, -0/+14define:googlized

    Did you mean: define:googlize
  • barryiggins, on 11/16/2008, -0/+14...or is the Internet being rewired by using our BRAINS, MAN!!!!
  • Devilboy666, on 11/16/2008, -0/+14You will be assimilated.
  • luchid, on 11/16/2008, -0/+14Well it isn't that bad unless your butt is hurting and you don't remember why.
  • hotpuck6, on 11/16/2008, -0/+13"400-600 page novels in a matter of hours"

    You use some sort of digital scanner to get through those so quickly there speedy?
  • FatLoser, on 11/16/2008, -0/+11google knows what kind of porn you like
  • SissySlapParty, on 11/16/2008, -0/+11Resistance is futile.
  • inactive, on 11/16/2008, -0/+11I'm not Borg...
  • Asrrin29, on 11/16/2008, -2/+11I find this over simplification to be highly insulting. I read books voraciously, often finishing 400-600 page novels in a matter of hours. I read magazine articles and newspaper articles that I find interesting to the full extent, often looking for footnotes, and reading the extra boxes. However, the minute I deem something as unimportant or not interesting I no longer have the drive to read it. It's more about the fact that with so much information available, I have a choice on how I choose my reading time, and I'm not forced to read things I don't find interesting.
  • badenglishihave, on 11/16/2008, -1/+10Yes, I constantly find myself overtaxing my hippopotamus.
  • Ruger11mcrdpi, on 11/16/2008, -1/+10Of course it's changing how we act! Don't know how to cook a steak? Google a you-tube video! Going for a run? Plot the run route on Google Earth, and check for the weather report on your i Google page. Oh wait! Don't forget to Google the times for the movie you are going to watch! Bring your Google phone to Best buy so we can price match Blu-Ray players with the built in scanner! No, dad I don't need directions to Aunt Sue's house, I'll just Google her address in my Google maps application on my phone.

    I no longer have to experiment and actually learn how to cook for myself! I don't need to expend energy in finding my own run routes, nor do I need to watch the actual news to get the weather report. I don't need to buy a newspaper to check for movie times. I don't need to check for sales in the paper nor in the mail. I don't need to know how to navigate on my own.

    Are these advances in technology good? Of course! They are awesome and amazing, however more and more they mean we don't need to actually THINK on our own. I think the real crime is allowing our kids to rely on these tools and never let them learn through trial and failure, which, IMO is much more important to their development then trial and success.

  • lolcat23, on 11/16/2008, -0/+8amazing that you dont see the error in your reasoning. you say that " who actually go to a library to research a topic for themselves". while googling hundreds of blogs, online databases etc isnt research?
    Old encyclopedias are just that, Old, they are archaic and out of date. every week there is new information that either changes what we thought was right about a certain thing or adds new information about that thing.

    It is true that we are losing skills all the time, but this is normal. Do you know how to do a flint axe? skin an animal? make leather? do you know how to track an animal?
    These are all skills that are totally useless to us(mostly) in this day and age.
  • theOster, on 11/16/2008, -0/+8i think i'll name him stampy
  • inactive, on 11/16/2008, -0/+8I know more now than I knew then thanks to the internet.
  • thegrantman, on 11/16/2008, -0/+7You forgot to mention the tendency for run-on sentences.
  • remccain, on 11/16/2008, -0/+7I am drunkard of Borg; Resistance is floor tile!
  • slundal, on 11/16/2008, -0/+7I've actually experienced this as well. While I have an excellent long term memory my short time memory some is some times severely reduced. Give me a hard time to remember spur of the moment thoughts and "to dos".

  • wolfeater2, on 11/16/2008, -0/+6are our brains getting googlized?

    let me search that up and i will get back to you.
  • Murdats, on 11/16/2008, -0/+6in relation to that sentence, The results of a recent worldwide survey on how the internet is used shows that the younger you are the more likely you are to read more online, with people 18-25 saying they will read whole articles and books online with people 65+ saying they are more likely to read just enough to navigate around.
  • motters, on 11/16/2008, -0/+6Prepare to be assimilated
  • MrOmniscient, on 11/16/2008, -0/+6I welcome our Google Overlords.
  • lolcat23, on 11/16/2008, -0/+6i totally dissagree, once you've cooked a steak, you are that much closer then when you started. 5 years ago you would have bought a ready-to-microwave steak. atleast now your doing it yourself(to some degree anyway). Just imagine all those diy blogs etc. they are this popular because ppl are actually doing all this diy now, as opposed to before when ppl needed to go to a class. know someone who knew how to do a curtain(or whatever).

    If you dont experiment with your cooking etc, then thats your fault, not the internets. And just like this study shows, you are very much thinking when "doing" the internet. just not thinking like it used to be. there is always a certain amount of ppl who are lazy thinkers, not experimenting with what they can do. and certain ppl are always pushing them selves on how to do stuff, and also by extension how to do NEW stuff with new technology.

    I for one think that scripting will be a well known skill in a couple of years. i dont know how to script, but i know a little html code, some bb code etc(i know how to quote in forums!! :). and thats one skill that i think will only grow.
  • Emelius, on 11/16/2008, -0/+5That happens to me because of the constant bombardment of ridiculously white pages. I'm still waiting for some standard on web site design. Black skinny characters on bright white backgrounds in large amounts in massive paragraphs hurts me inside. So when i get that headache I take a deep breath and look at my soothing wallpaper. Blue and Grey. Delicious.

    As to studying, if I study a lot over a period of time, my mind is like a super sponge.
  • hungryduck, on 11/16/2008, -0/+5I welcome the new way of doing it.
  • randyrandall, on 11/16/2008, -0/+5The amount of times I have mentally tried to 'Ctrl - F' whilst reading a list in real life is silly..
  • awesometastic1, on 11/16/2008, -0/+5So this is good then. I was afraid it might be a bad thing, but it seems like maybe it's really just exercising the brain a ton, which is probably a good thing.
  • awesometastic1, on 11/16/2008, -0/+5so then you might actually be able to address my comment about having trouble focusing and stuff after extended periods of time reading stuff or searching on the internet (see: http://digg.com/health/Are_Our_Brains_Becoming_Goo ...

    I'm really interested in any incite you could give on whether this is a bad thing or possible a good thing.
  • bbardlbradd, on 11/16/2008, -1/+6It's especially bad if you're hanging out on /b/ or the likes while you're doing things that later you cannot recall...

    ... then again, who wants to remember what they were doing on /b/?
  • crazyhorse13, on 11/16/2008, -0/+4Maybe I'm missing something, but doesn't the difference in brain activity between regular internet users and the internet naive seem backwards? It seems like people who don't use the internet much should have to concentrate more actively on what they are doing, while those who use it all the time should be able to do more things subconsciously.

    At any rate, this is a very interesting article.
  • askewed, on 11/16/2008, -0/+4Eye strain.
  • onionoino, on 11/16/2008, -0/+4sylar?
  • latin69, on 11/16/2008, -0/+4In 2025 the first Google brain transplant will happen...........by 2066 all brains will have the Google search built in from birth and all knowledge and memories will be Googled from the interweb....... this is when the first real Google Android will become part of our society!
  • sajorojas, on 11/16/2008, -0/+4Does that mean Obama doesn't exist?
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