Search Engines: Outsourcing Knowledge and the Human Memory

In what year did Thomas Edison invent the phonograph? Before the time of the internet and search engines, the world had to access specific information through libraries, museums, schools and other public locations of knowledge. However; in the new era of high speed internet, people can now access this information within seconds with search engines. Popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo And other search engines has made it possible to access any source of knowledge that any person desires. People of the 21^st century have become so dependent on this quick form of information that people even use the phrase “Google it” whenever people do not know an answer to a question. So why is this a problem? Shouldn’t this form of instant information be praised and not looked down upon? Although instant access to any source of knowledge is something to be amazed about, the problem lies on how obsessive people have become to using the internet for knowledge rather than to immerse themselves in a book.

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In Nicholas Carr’s book, The Shallows, he goes into full detail about the troubling issues with addiction to using search engines. Carr discusses the difference between learning from the internet and learning from a book. While reading a book the reader does not just learn little Snapple facts. The reader learns about everything that surrounds the topic of their inquiry.  The new knowledge the reader gains is truly retain in the readers mind. They take time and patience to learn and understand the topic of their choice.

So how does the internet differ from reading books and literature? They both have text and possess the same information as the other. Why should we not embrace the new evolution of attaining information? Whenever you search for an answer through the internet it only take a few seconds. Not only it takes a few seconds, but it goes right to the specific answer the searcher needed to know. There is no time and patience for the new knowledge. There is no work in understanding the surrounding knowledge in the answer. People search, find their answer, and leave away with their Snapple fact. People who use the internet as their substitute for libraries, museums, schools and other public locations of knowledge have no use to learn how to retain information. Instant access to knowledge cannot train the brain to retain knowledge. Learning through the internet does nothing to train the brain to learn and retain knowledge. Dependence on search browsers causes people to lose the ability to retain information because they have no use to retain knowledge. At the same time it would take for somebody to remember a specific answer to a question. People can search for the answer on a search browser. Search browsers is convenient  for finding quick information, but over time people addicted to search browsers become less dependent on their own memory. They become dependent on outsource memory on the information highway.

So what year did Thomas Edison invent the phonograph? The information can be found on the internet, but instead try to find the answer in a book. In a book not only will the answer be revealed, but you will train your mind to retain information and you will be surprised what other information you might find out.

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print.

Chris Childs