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Google is making us stupid

Nicholas Carr is hitting the nail on the head.

Pulled internet and cable out of the house so that my kids wouldn't hard-wire these behaviors.
They can still use the 'net and watch videos, but there's a barrier between them and information overload.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

An experiment at Stanford demonstrated how information overload also affects willpower.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...cle-outset-box

Quote:

<snip>
In one experiment, led by Baba Shiv at Stanford University, several dozen undergraduates were divided into two groups. One group was given a two-digit number to remember, while the second group was given a seven-digit number. Then they were told to walk down the hall, where they were presented with two different snack options: a slice of chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad.

Here's where the results get weird. The students with seven digits to remember were nearly twice as likely to choose the cake as students given two digits. The reason, according to Prof. Shiv, is that those extra numbers took up valuable space in the brain—they were a "cognitive load"—making it that much harder to resist a decadent dessert. In other words, willpower is so weak, and the prefrontal cortex is so overtaxed, that all it takes is five extra bits of information before the brain starts to give in to temptation.

Not dismissing that techology has its effects on us, but this experiament seems a little weak.

Not sure of the big connection between short-term memory and things like character and delayed gratification.

But then again I'm not a Phycologist.

S

I think it would have been just as feasible to say that storing 5 extra bits depleted energy such that it made better sense in a Darwinian fashion to immediately replenish with cake versus the harder to digest fruit salad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brush Okie (Post 396639)

Naaa I was stupid before the internet

thank you for the 2am hysterical laugh :D

Contrasted with that message to Garcia thread about persistence and git-ir-done, google does provide instant-gratification-inducing shortcuts. I haven't touched the drug book for years I think.....it's been google and various, even creative keywords

nah, it's just another tool. When it comes to blaming, it's the user, not the tool. Now, if we're talking about tv....;) Speaking of which, I went to bestbuy today after many years and talking about instant sensory override. I'm convinced there're over 99999 products that promote couch potato lifestyle and feeling good about it. There must be some links between these latest and greatest gadgets and the influx of 300+ pounders at WAMC:eek:

The same thing could be said for calculators.

Use it as an extension of your intellect while you can. Prolly won't be available for a while when the US economic system collapses.

Meh...I'm not impressed with this experiment in the slightest. Small enough numbers to allow for selection bias (maybe a majority of the fatties ended up in the 7-digit group), and the conclusion is total conjecture without any background/reference science to back it up. The idea the body craves simple sugars when doing more strenuous (mental or otherwise) activities is more plausible, as mentioned above.

A best, this is a small step up from craniometry IMHO.

Even if you asked me to remember my name I'd still take take the chocolate cake. Make it a choice between chocolate cake and sex . . . THAT might be interesting.

Quote:

But then again I'm not a Phycologist.

Perhaps that is the problem. We should get an algal expert to review the study and determine if photosynthetic activity is triggered by long numbers and linked to cake eating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty (Post 396651)

The same thing could be said for calculators.

Use it as an extension of your intellect while you can. Prolly won't be available for a while when the US economic system collapses.

I think it also works for an over dependence on GPS navigators. I use mine to find different job sites I go to and seems like they cause an addictive like dependence.
I can fully understand why the military teaches old school land nav.

Stupid is as stupid does.

- F. Gump

Richard :munchin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard (Post 396664)

Stupid is as stupid does.

- F. Gump

Richard :munchin

That's actually incorrect. The quote is his mother's.

Google it.

:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty (Post 396665)

That's actually incorrect. The quote is his mother's.

Google it.

:D

I was citing the movie. ;)

Richard :munchin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard (Post 396668)

I was citing the movie. ;)

Richard :munchin

According to Google, in the movie, the line is "Mama says, stupid is as stupid does", attributing the "movie" quote to someone other than "F. Gump".

:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty (Post 396671)

According to Google, in the movie, the line is "Mama says, stupid is as stupid does", attributing the "movie" quote to someone other than "F. Gump".

:)

[repeated line]
Forrest Gump: Stupid is as stupid does.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/quotes

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin