The idea of our brains being rewired to acclimate to the internet probably isn’t a surprise to anyone who can’t go a few minutes without checking their e-mail or Twitter or Facebook or forum of choice. We (I say “we” since I’m one of these people) want everything as quickly as possible and without that constant flow of information we feel disconnected from the world. Even while reading this book, I probably checked my iPod Touch at an average rate of two times a chapter. (Yes, I carry around my iPod Touch because I’m too poor to want to pay $90/mo for an iPhone and I live in the city now and there’s always a hotspot nearby even if I’m not on campus.)

I had already read about a study cited in this book that revealed students did better on a reading comprehension quiz of a short essay when they were given a plain text version (or a paper version, I forget) as opposed to a version filled with hyperlinks. Clicking on a hyperlink has the effect of breaking your concentration and not allowing your brain to absorb the information in its entirety, even if it seems like you’re learning more by reading the content of the hyperlinks. The reason posited for this phenomenon is the limit of the brain for working memory. Possible long-term memory is practically infinite, but such retention is only attained after memories are allowed to be stored in the hippocampus for the required amount of time, which can apparently range from an a few minutes to years.

I was probably most intrigued when Carr went through history and talked about the effects of other technological advances on the workings of the mind. He writes about the invention of the book, the printing press, the clock, the phonograph, etc., citing reactions from prominent scientists and thinkers, and detailing where they were right and where they were wrong. It’s almost strange to think that a transition from handwriting to typewriters could have an effect on the content, tone, and structure of someone’s writing, but there are a few anecdotes mentioned that seem to suggest otherwise; one being that the flow of cursive lends itself to more meandering sentences compared to the staccato of a typewriter.

A theme running through all this discussion of technology and its effects on humanity as a whole and on an individual level is that there’s never any turning back (unless we bomb ourselves to hell, I guess). The internet is only becoming increasingly prominent in our lives and the trend in all likelihood will not reverse. When new forms of media were created, others were never done away with entirely. Newspapers didn’t kill books. Television didn’t kill the radio. The internet hasn’t killed anything yet, but it is the first technology that has been able to absorb and provide practically every form of communication the human race has created. And it has greatly affected every other form of media. Many magazines are now laid out more like webpages and there are television shows like Tosh.0 that live off YouTube clips.

But maybe it’s bullshit to worry about the internet-ization of our brains. It’s not like reading is an activity the human brain is particularly evolved for; a person needs to develop a love of reading, which in turn leads the brain to crave more of a similar stimulus. I feel as if I’ve had to work to get back into reading at length, or even watching full movies at home, but I like to think I’m almost there. And it does feel more satisfying to finish a book or watch a great film than it does to jump around reading blogs or watching 20 minute television show episodes. But is it efficient? When Carr posed this question to some very intelligent people, a number of them said they don’t even read books anymore because it’s just not worth the time and effort when the internet is so easily searchable — just Wikipedia it! Well, you probably indirectly Wikipedia it by googling it first.

I mean Google because there’s an entire chapter of this book dedicated to the search giant. The search giant that has attempted to get its fingers into every inch of the internet and subsequently our lives. They want to know everything and they want everything to be searchable. The ideas of Sergey Brin mentioned in The Shallows point to the idea of a massive internet cloud singularity in the future of humanity. Perhaps this is inevitable, considering the march of technological progress and the willingness of people to upload as much as possible. Just thinking about such a possibility reminds me of “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov, one of the favorite short stories. Try to read it without being distracted by the rest of the internet.

As written about by Carr, a move toward such a future would be scarier than the idea of our brains just being overloaded with too much data and not developing enough deep knowledge, as it would basically end all individuality. Although the two are linked — if you’re not forming individual thoughts through personal reading and writing, then it’s all external, which basically means the internet going forward. Already, people on the internet group together around similar interests, e.g., politics or sabermetrics, developing thoughts and worldviews alongside each other virtually. Sure, have a predilection for such behavior, but the internet only exacerbates the narrowing of experience. Imagine such an echo chamber effect across the entire human race. Or maybe just watch episode 2 of the British television series Black Mirror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdJcYTh1rP0

Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time For An Open Alternative – I like this idea more than the “OMG EVERYONE QUIT FACEBOOK!!!” idea. Maybe it’s not even an idea, because I’m sure the market will come up with an alternative soon enough. Right? Capitalism don’t fail me now! Even if you’ve already failed most of us recently…

Hey LeBron, Welcome to New York – Will Leitch and Ira Boudway lay out the reasons why the only choice for the best basketball player on the planet is to come to New York.

Baseball Scouts Like Big Butts And They Cannot Lie – Maybe the Mets should hire Sir-Mix-A-Lot as a scout? And I wonder what Oliver Perez’s butt is on a scale of 1-10. I need Buck Showalter to help me out here.

Your Office Chair Is Killing You – Yeah, I’m gonna go play golf now instead of staying on my laptop while watching the Mets game…

David Ortiz Is Getting Paid $13 Million, By The Way – I laughed at this until I realized Oliver Perez is getting paid $12 million.

My NY Mets Journal Blog – An awesome dude who should be employed by a newspaper creates a drawing for each and every Mets game. They are really, really great.

NSFW: I Admit It, The iPad Is A Kindle Killer. I Just Wish It Weren’t Going To Kill Reading Too – Makes a pretty damn convincing argument for why all but the biggest bibliophiles who also happen to be technophiles will get a Kindle instead of an iPad. Because really, who reads anymore?

The magic is dead – In which an aspiring writer e-buddy laments the sad state of affairs when it comes to practical effects. Filmmakers used to create ingenious ways to pull off shots and effects, while nowadays computers do all the work. I can’t say I care too much, except when the CGI sucks e.g. the Burly Brawl in The Matrix Reloaded. Sigh. There’s a reason why Jaws (mentioned in the blog post) still holds up today.

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad – A review of a book I’ll never read. Actually, I never would have heard of the author or the book if it weren’t for the damn internet. Apparently this “Lauren Conrad” was on “The Hills.” As much as I’m sure the book sucks — an opinion backed up by this review from another e-buddy — I’m impressed that she’s able to form complete sentences. Putting thousands of them together in a novel is just mind-blowing.

5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For The Worse) – Let me add 6) A girl is able to blow you off by saying “Facebook me”

How good was the Springfield Power Plant Team? – Remember that awesome Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns collects a bunch of Major League players for the softball game against Shelbyville plant and all the players except Darryl Strawberry fall victim to absurd incidents and circumstances? Well, I’m about to ruin it for most of you by linking to this article which grades the team by WAR. I think we all wondered why the hell Mike Scoscia was on the team, though, even as a kid. At least I did.

Regular Season Baseball Signals The “Return” of LOLMLB – So are these captions officially played out yet?

+/-, RZR, and New Fielding Stats – You didn’t think you’d get through this entire post without getting linked to a pure sabermetric article, did you? SO MANY FIELDING METRICS IN ONE PLACE WHAT AN EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT. RZR kinda sucks, though. It’s like that $10 gift card to some store you never shop at.

Burnout Paradise

The definition of a love/hate relationship. I love the amazing crash physics. After approximately 1287 crashes, I hate still having to see every single one in slow-motion (previous Burnouts had the option to turn Takedown cams off). I love doing challenges online with online buddies. I hate that I’ll probably never get the 250 challenge achievement, since I’ll never do challenges with 6, 7 or 8 people. I love the ease of online racing, the leaderboards, and the stats given before each race. I hate losing races due to missing a crucial turn. I love the variety in the vehicles and how they actually react differently in collisions. I hate having to do specific Burning Lap events with specific vehicles. I still love Road Rage events. I hate the new Showtime (Crash) mode, but not nearly as much as I hate Stunt Mode.

Omega Five

Exactly the type of game that XBLA should have in droves. An original shmup that has tight controls and impressive graphics. And XBLA adds the incentive to drive for a high score with leaderboards. I can’t wait for Ikaruga to be released. I still can’t believe I just sold the GC version on Amazon Marketplace for $45. Can’t wait to rebuy a superior version for $10!

Halo 3

Yeah, I’ve been a huge critic of this series since the original, but co-op apparently is still fun. Ripped through the game on normal. Just as my predetermined hatred of the campaign was starting to recede, we reached a level that took place inside a giant anus. I don’t know who thought it’d be a good idea to have such a disgusting level in a video game. And there were anuses inside the anus. And it vibrated its walls as it spoke a few times. Bungie should be ashamed of themselves.

The Dishwasher

One of the XBL Community Games, which means it was developed with XNA Game Studio and released with XNA Creators Club. Let’s just say it’s a way for independent developers to get their cool games on XBLA. There’s still time to play a bunch of these games for free. I haven’t gotten a chance to play any others, but this one is pretty fun. You can tell it’s an amateurish work-in-progress, but it’s Devil May Cry/Ninja Gaiden in 2D, which should sound cool to anyone.

Call of Duty 4

Never completely out of the gaming rotation. Took a while to beat the single-player campaign, as Veteran was a bitch. I’m determined to eventually get 1000/1000, so I’ll need to beat the extra level on Veteran, even if it’s the most frustrating thing I’ve ever played. As for MP: even after weeks of vacation, I still rock the shit — most notably on Wet Work. I reached Prestige mode, and kept on mercilessly killing dudes with the vanilla M16. Call of Duty 4 might as well be renamed Boost Joel’s Self-Esteem.

Also, I just came across this gem (sorry, had to shrink to fit):

Facebook Scrabulous

This counts! I’ll take on all comers! I’m not especially good, but I can hold my own at times.

(I should get paid for this type of pimpage.)

Fuck MySpace. I’m back on Facebook for the fifth time. I fill my Twitter profile with inane quips, observations, and rants. I post awesome stuff in my Pownce profile. My Muse obsession is well-documented on my Last.fm profile. I’ve had a Digg profile for a while, and I’m starting to utilize that again. I’ve uploaded three badass concerts on Stage6 (but one has since been taken down — actually, the whole site has been taken down for a while due to some hackers). I even got an invite to Hulu, a totally legal TV show streaming site that is still in beta form. Once I FINALLY setup my own webspace, I’ll be sure to embed some of my favorite shows and clips.

I’m also on two forums, and would be on three if a certain online buddy weren’t a fellow poor college student. Instead of buying me the Something Awful subscription he promised, he spends money on food — what a friend he is. And of course, there’s this little piece of internet, along with the one I carved out a few years ago. Google CajoleJuice. Go ahead. Do it. My blog being the first Google result parallels a similar fact that almost led to possible disaster a few years ago. This time around, I’m a little more amused and content. While you’re at it, Google Anti-Christ Tom Brady. The power of Digg. Although, it didn’t seem to work for the follow-up post this year. All I have left is to buy a webcam so I create a channel on Yahoo! Live and stream myself over the web. Oh wait, I’m not an attention-whoring teenage girl.

I don’t even quite know what I hoped to achieve with this post, but I hate wasting possible posts that I already wrote up. I truly believe everyone should sign up on Pownce as soon as possible, solely due to the file sharing capabilities. You can’t see it, but I uploaded a bunch of music. At the time, I didn’t realize just how worthless an effort that was. I knew you needed to be friends on Pownce to be able to see each other’s files, but I didn’t know you needed to be friends BEFORE the file was uploaded. So yeah, that was a waste. And now that my goddamn Photobucket account has exceeded its bandwidth and the site TrialPay is currently fisting my asshole while I wait for them to upgrade me to Pro, pretty much the only thing on my public profile is this:

Don’t let that give you a bad impression of Pownce. It’s like Twitter on steroids, even though there’s a good chance no one reading this knows what Twitter is. Let’s just say that Pownce is much more useful, and less annoying, than Facebook. It rocks. It’s almost like a mini-blogger. So sign up and friend me, so we can start posting music for each other. Or humorous links for each other. All that crap.

I must embarrassing admit that I found a couple of these sites through the e-stalking of Veronica Belmont. I saw how many sites she was on, and consequently had to join them and friend her. But the awesome side-effect was finding a great site like Pownce. Twitter is fairly dumb fun as well. As for Hulu, I knew about it for a while, but you need an invite to register. The person that first informed me of it sent me an invite last night. If you want an invite, just let me know. I only have 10, so first-come, first-served (as if 10 people will even read this). I’ll be pimping it in the weeks to come, as it inevitably creeps closer to public launch. Hmm, I wonder if Veronica needs an invite…

I doubt it.