Digitally Distracted

I came across an article last spring that I keep coming back to as I immerse myself more deeply in the digital world. As I Googled to try to figure out how to create a hyperlink to the article in this post, I got distracted and found a new blog that I proceeded to read and add to my feed. Then, before I knew it, I was reading other new posts in my feed, and I forgot all about the hyperlink. (I did read something interesting about a Web 2.0 suicide trend that I'm sure I'll blog about down the line). That was Saturday. Today is Monday, and I am just now remembering that I wanted to share the article.

Appropriately, the article is titled, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Because I never got to learn about the hyperlink thing, I am pasting a link in this post:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google. Nicholas Carr raises some interesting points in his article, and I've frequently thought of designing one of my academic argument courses around these Internet issues. Ironically, he also talks about hyperlinks and their ability to distract us even though they lead us to further information.

But the argument is interesting because how can something like the Internet, which allows us to learn anything we want to learn, be making us stupid? I don't think I'm prepared to commit to either side of the debate. But I will say that over this weekend as I tried to do homework for two classes that required web surfing, I was both stimulated by the vast amount of knowledge I found at my disposal and distracted to the point of forgetfulness. Can the stimulation and distraction find balance? How can we address these issues with students if we can't resolve them ourselves? Right now, I don't have any of the answers... but I have a feeling my Google might lead me to some.