The Internet makes us dumber.

The Internet makes us dumber.

In recent years, a number of authors—often neurologists—such as Baroness Susan Greenfield and Manfred Spitzer, in his 2012 book Digitale Demenz (“Digital Dementia”), have appeared from a new group of technological critics who seem to agree that we are all becoming more stupid because of the technology we are using.32 Though what they posit in their books—very strong, sometimes not completely well-founded positions33—need to be taken with a grain of salt, they refer to the plasticity of the brain in arguing that the Internet is rewiring our brains in a harmful way.

It is certainly true that what’s known as the Flynn effect (the observed rise in IQ scores over time) has come to a halt in some countries, but the reasons for this halt are neither uniform nor clear. James Flynn, who named this effect, shared his doubts in his 2012 book Are We Getting Smarter?  34 about whether the effect actually measures that we really have become smarter. There are other plausible reasons for the rise in the test scores, such as education more closely mimicking IQ tests. Research even suggests that the better scores on IQ tests result from increased luckier guessing on harder test items.35
As a result, it is not easy to say whether the Internet might be partly responsible for the halt in the phenomenon, as we do not know for certain what actually caused the Flynn effect.36Some authors even see the use of new media as an important contributory factor in the rise of average IQ that has been evident in recent years.37

Nowadays, we are relying more and more on technology. As an illustration of this fact, Betsy Sparrow, a professor at Columbia University in New York, has described the “Google effect.”38Together with her team, she discovered that students remember information more easily if they think that this information is not likely to be available on the Internet. Her study also revealed that students are better at remembering where to find something on the Internet than they are at remembering the information itself. In this respect, the popular Google search engine is increasingly acting as a kind of “external memory.”

But is this really evidence to show that the Internet is making us dumber? To be honest, we don’t know. At the moment, there is no conclusive, empirical proof that decides the issue one way or the other. Although Nicolas Carr has provided many indications in his book The Shallows, his arguments are personal and anecdotal, rather than scientific.39 Perhaps Steven Pinker is right when he says that we are now making better use of our brains by using Google for “unnecessary information,”40just as we now use satellite navigation or another global positioning device instead of a map. And in the final analysis, we certainly know more now than we did in the past. So why should we be more stupid?

In an opinion piece from 2010, in reaction to the publication of Carr’s book, two leading neurologists explain why the digital alarmists are wrong:41

The basic plan of the brain’s “wiring” is determined by genetic programs and biochemical interactions that do most of their work long before a child discovers Facebook and Twitter. There is simply no experimental evidence to show that living with new technologies fundamentally changes brain organization in a way that affects one’s ability to focus. Of course, the brain changes any time we form a memory or learn a new skill, but new skills build on our existing capacities without fundamentally changing them. We will no more lose our ability to pay attention than we will lose our ability to listen, see or speak.

Still, there are reasons to consider being careful with the total amount of screen time that children may have in a normal day. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that studies have shown excessive media use can lead to attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders, and obesity.42 This view has been confirmed by a study by researchers from Iowa State University.43 Therefore, the AAP recommends no more than one to two hours of screen time a day for children two years and older. John Hattie also describes a clear negative impact of excessive television consumption on learning. Finally, a recent review article in The Neuroscientistpaints a disturbing picture of what is happening to this group:44

Growing up with Internet technologies, “Digital Natives” gravitate toward “shallow” information processing behaviors characterized by rapid attention shifting and reduced deliberations. They engage in increased multitasking behaviors that are linked to increased distractibility and poor executive control abilities. Digital natives also exhibit higher prevalence of Internet-related addictive behaviors that reflect altered reward-processing and self-control mechanisms. Recent neuroimaging investigations have suggested associations between these Internet-related cognitive impacts and structural changes in the brain.

Note that many of these studies examined the influence of television rather than the influence of interactive technology, such as smartphones and social media. Also note that most of these studies found a correlation rather than a causal relation; that is, there may be other reasons why children who watch a lot of television have poorer school results.