Some detractors argue that the Web is changing our neuronal physiology, actually re-wiring our brains in a way that is dangerous and detrimental to our development. Others suggest that the Web is in fact helping us to utilise our brains more efficiently, making us proverbial ‘foxes’ rather than ‘hedgehogs’ (in the metaphorical parlance of Isaiah Berlin) – able to quickly gather lots of information from lots of sources rather than viewing the world through a single idea.
Now, rather than sit on the fence in passing judgment until some empirical evidence that tests this specific hypothesis lands in our laps, the Digital Revolution team behind Programme 4 is working with the CIBER research group at UCL to assess exactly how the Web is affecting the way we think. As part of the documentary series, we are running several nation-wide experiments to test the common conceptions and misconceptions about the web. This is a hot topic in the headlines and behind the walls of the Ivory Tower, so of course the issue did not fall under our radar.
In fact, this is a call for participation! This Saturday 14 November 2009, the pilot study for a nationwide experiment is taking place at UCL in the centre of London, and we’re looking for people to take part! The results will form part of the argument in programme 4 of the Digital Revolution series, Homo Interneticus. Here are the details:
The experiment takes place 9am-11am at University College London, DMS Watson Science Library, WC1 6BT on Saturday 14 November 2009.
We are looking for participants from the following age groups: 17-18, 25-34, 45-54 or 65-74 years old.
If you fit into one of the age ranges above, and live in, or can travel, to London, contact Cathy Edwards: tel 0208 008 3985 or email cathy.edwards@bbc.co.uk
You’ll be browsing webpages and doing simple cognitive tasks: nothing too challenging for a Saturday morning. So do come on down!
Find out all you need to know about this experiment on the Digital Revolution blog. While you’re there, check out the arguments:
- Aleks Krotoski on the web rewiring us, our relationships, and our addictions (Video)
- What are we thinking? Cognition and attention in the digital age
- Susan Greenfield – is the web changing our brains? (Video)
- Connected schools, the generation gap, and distraction
- Will the web mean the end of the contemplative mind?
- Fast information for the fast food generation
- Charles Leadbeater and David Runciman interview clips (Video): generation gaps and learning with the web
Comments
I’m going to disagree with the web detractors. Man is merely biological information obeying physical laws; his existence has no meaning, no point, and no value. He has no telos, he has no raison d’être. Without an end point to achieve, a yardstick in which to measure success, words like dangerous and detrimental have no meaning and evolution is a synonym of aimless and directionless change rather than of amelioration. If man didn’t exist it would be of no moment. If man was eradicated it would be of no moment.