Does Google Make Us Stupid? Originally put forth by Nicholas Carr in the July/August 2008 issue of The Atlantic, this idea received a rebuttal one year later by Jamais Casico (“Get Smarter“) in that same publication. The next chapter in this debate is being written by experts responding to the Pew Research Center (“Does Google Make Us Stupid?“) – and the answer seems to be a resounding, “No.” 76% of respondents (internet experts) agreed that, “By 2020, people’s use of the internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid.”
Curiously, Janna Quitney Anderson and Lee Rainie, who authored the description of the survey, seemed to assume that just because experts suppose so, it will be true. To my eyes, Nicholas Carr isn’t wrong – yet. Only time will tell.