School of Thinking

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15 big ways the Internet is changing our brain

Posted on January 10th, 2012 by Michael
From Online College:
Brain and mouse

With much of human knowledge now our fingertips, the Internet is rewiring our brains in various ways, Online College finds:

  1. The Internet is our external hard drive
  2. Children are learning differently
  3. We hardly ever give tasks our full attention
  4. We don’t bother to remember
  5. We’re getting better at finding information
  6. Difficult questions make us think about computers
  7. IQ is increasing over time
  8. Our concentration is suffering
  9. We’re getting better at determining relevance
  10. We’re becoming physically addicted to technology
  11. The more you use the Internet, the more it lights up your brain
  12. Our brains constantly seek out incoming information
  13. We’ve become power browsers
  14. Online thinking persists even offline
  15. Creative thinking may suffer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 5:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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8 Responses to “15 big ways the Internet is changing our brain”


  1. Paul Says:
    February 15th, 2012 at 8:39 am

    Let’s find ways to capitalize on these pluses and minuses to improve our creative thinking

  2. Robert Says:
    January 22nd, 2012 at 7:03 am

    10. Withdrawal sucks.

  3. kenton Says:
    January 11th, 2012 at 11:39 pm

    Bvs we could use the Internet to increase our creativity

  4. Neville Says:
    January 11th, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    It has opened up a new world to all who wish to develop or find those previously hidden talents.
    Some may believe creative thinking will suffer. My feeling is that it will open up huge opportunities for even greater creativity.
    But like many new things it has hidden dangers.
    Many are familiar with the saying “With every adversity comes the seeds of an equivalent benefit” We are all learning (or will re-learn) that with every benefit comes the seeds of equivalent adversity.
    For example regarding power or leadership. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
    The next generation may need to create brand new imaginary supernatural God to save them just as our ancestors did.
    Oh be Jesus, not again.

  5. Clive Pilley Says:
    January 11th, 2012 at 7:56 am

    The positives I find are

    16. the opportunities to keep our brains trained and young are now readily available and accessible ( I’m 66 )
    17. Access to a wider body of knowledge in different areas of learning
    18. The ability to discern what is rubbish is enhanced
    19. The monopoly of media houses to influence our thinking has been smashed

    Cognitive training has so many applications for all age levels – self hypnosis can change all our habits for the better in so many ways

  6. Hoyt Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 10:45 pm

    Hello Out There

    The Internet has open up a bran new world for me.
    I’m reading more than I have ever read before,it is
    changing my life in ways I would have never thought
    it would.I’m in my early 60,s but I feel as if I’m in my
    40,s.This Internet world is great, it is taking years off
    my life and I’m “Loving it”.

    Take care,Hoyt

  7. rogi Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    The compilation is good. As item 15, it can be augmented with an observation that many people concentrate less, because they rely on finding ready-made solutions, rather than seeking them. This is a big disadvantage.

  8. anthony bertini Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 9:14 pm

    and

    16. we are developing a new global language
    17. it is creating new social skills
    18. our brains google
    19. enhansing multi tasking skills
    20. giving us a false sense of security and superiority
    21. we don’t need to concentate so much
    22. more selective in what we retain