Does the Internet make us smarter Free Essay Example, 1250 words

According to a research conducted, â€Å"A new study shows that using the Internet can actually change  your brain function. The UCLA experiment involved 24 adults, between 55 and 78 years old. Twelve of these individuals were inexperienced Internet users, while the other 12 that served as a control group were frequent users. An MRI scan was given before and after a two-week Internet training period, when the participants searched the Internet for an hour a day for seven days total. When the inexperienced group was scanned again while using the net, areas of the brain involved in decision making and working memory showed more activity. The group of frequent users that were experienced in using the Internet showed more activity in areas of the brain related to complex reasoning. Overall there was an increase in both users brain function. † (Bruny, Melissa) This displays that the internet truly helps in making a person smarter. (Collin, Thomas J) At the same time however, there are many authors who say that the internet involves making people dumber, than or not as smart as they think they are. We will write a custom essay sample on Does the Internet make us smarter or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Furthermore, social networking websites are the worst form of time wasting sources on the internet. These websites consist of people visiting each other’s profiles for hours without realising how much time they have spent doing absolutely nothing but talking to one another. Chatting on the internet, especially with strangers, is not even a safe mode of conduct to follow, which could land people into trouble. However, people do these things, and it does not necessarily make them smarter. According to a writer, â€Å"Our minds are under attack. At least that’s what I keep hearing these days. Thumbing away at our text messages, we are becoming illiterate. † (Zimmer, Carl) He states that instead of search engines like ‘Google’ making a person smarter, they are only leading to making people stupid. This is because of the vast amount of unnecessary information and websites that it has stocked as opposed to pages that actually help people attain smartness.