The Internet and the Death of Thought

                Thoughtless internet use can lead to a dangerously shallow pattern of thinking. The internet's massive stores of information can essentially serves as a shield from any sort of deep thought. Instead of taking the time to process each individual kernel of knowledge, people often jump back and forth between different pages without internalizing anything. In a constant web of links it can become incredibly difficult to focus on any single thought, and this is dangerous. Over time the repeated fragmentation of one's attention can have a serious effect on ones attention span, and this harms much more than the value of the time one spends online.

                The objectivity of this post was quickly derailed once I began to examine how I interact with the internet. So instead of exploring how the internet effects people in general, I am going to talk about my own personal relationship with the net.

                While on the computer,  I fall prey to the exact situation I described above. I entrench myself in a constant internet feedback loop, and I allow myself no time for deep thought. I go through the same three websites over and over again;  absentmindedly hoping for some sort of superficial stimulation. I rarely dig into the content of these pages, or synthesize any sort of new ideas. I simply skate along the surface and experience the web in a transitory way. I may grab a few headlines here and there, or chuckle at dog picture, but this does not amount to anything of value. I don't allow myself the time to process the information in any meaningful way; I just keep clicking and clicking and clicking.

                This is a completely mindless use of my time, and I feel like it has been eroding my ability to concentrate. Even as I write this post I find myself going through the aforementioned  cycle.  It is hard to focus on my thoughts, because I habitually silence them through the click of my mouse. What's worse, is with the advent of the smart phone there is no reason for me to ever leave the feedback cycle. I am constantly connected to the internet, so I can check my top three websites whenever I want.  Why do any sort of self reflection when I can look at funny dog pictures on Reddit? I have never explicitly asked myself this, but in wasting my time browsing the net this is essentially what I am doing. My mind often does not have enough time to breathe.   

                I feel as though this whole post has been a bit dramatic. It is not like I never have a single thought while on the web, but I believe this sort of cursory web browsing is really effecting me in a negative way. I waste far too much of my precious time staring at a screen. I think this is a problem for a lot of people today, especially those of us here at Stevens. It is all too easy to get sucked in by the internet.  I encourage you all to do a similar analysis of the time you spend online. As you can see it has been a very revelatory experience for me.