An Influx in Reading and Information is NOT Damaging our Brain

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In the essay, “Reading and Thought” by Dwight MacDonald, MacDonald believes that we are filled with useless information because there is not enough time. We have an “information overabundance” in our world today. An “information overabundance” is information that does not have any deeper meaning and fills no purpose in knowing the material. This concerns MacDonald because people no longer give the time to find the deeper meaning in a piece of literature. He believes that these coincidences occurred because we no longer have time in this fast-paced society of ours. However, the world has come up with a solution to create more time and be more productive – multitasking. MacDonald argues that people no longer have time to read extensively, but incorrectly states that literature today is filled with meaningless information and that multitasking is a negative aspect to the world.

In this fast-packed society, there is not enough time to do the things that we could have been able to do 20 or 30 years ago. The worldwide broadband connection speed is constantly growing with the current average speed at 2Mbps (Akamai). With this high influx of speed, we would expect to see more time in the lives of people. Instead, we see people wasting time and finding ways to have more time. Google, for example, has become our silicon brain. Carr agrees, stating, “the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind” (Carr 341). We type whatever we need in the big, blue box in the center of the page and we receive an answer in a matter of seconds. When I have to find an answer, for example, “How do I replace a tire,” I type it in, word for word, and I will obtain millions of ...

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...ration and Performance Management, Streaming Media Services and Content Delivery. Akamai, 24 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid? - Magazine - The Atlantic." The Atlantic — News and Analysis on Politics, Business, Culture, Technology, National, International, and Life – TheAtlantic.com. Atlantic Monthly Group, July-Aug. 2008. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

Johnson, Steven. "Yes, People Still Read, but Now It's Social." New York Times (19 June 2010). The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. New York Times, 19 June 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

Keeton, Kathy. "The Future of Books." Write It 2011: 366. Print.

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