I’m one of the first people to say that A.I.M (AOL Instant Messenger), along with other instant messaging services is making my generation and the ones that follow “stooped.” Everyday I feel as though I might scream if I see one more e-mail written in shorthand “A.I.M.-talk” or if another person says LOL in a face to face conversation. I’m also the first to admit that I’m hooked on spell-check. I’m a horrible speller and have no desire to learn as long as I have the spell-check tool on my internet browser, instant messenger, and word processor. So, I thought reading this article might be interesting. From the beginning I could relate and agree with what the writer was saying. I am and always have been an avid reader but as my use of the internet grew so did the difficulty of diving into a book and staying underneath the ocean of words, especially for books that aren’t necessarily my cup of tea. But instead of contributing this to my use of the internet I contributed it to my ADHD and general lack of interest. While finishing the article up I began wondering off into my own little world, as I often do when reading and I thought maybe there’s a link between the use of the internet and ADHD. While searching for information about links between the internet and ADHD I did find a study that says that internet addiction is associated with ADHD* (although not quite what I was looking for.). Hmmm..It’s easy to drift off when you aren’t interested or swept away by what you’re reading. After reading the article I began to think that maybe the convenience of the internet has affected my ability to focus while reading. Google makes doing research so easy. You don’t have to look up books, then read tons of information that is useless to you just to get to what you need. Internet search engines do all the filtering for you. They find sites closest to what you’re looking for then show you the specific area of the site that mentions what you are looking for. Google give you what you need when you need it and in many cases how you need it without the extra junk. Maybe Mr. Carr has a point.
* http://www.anxiety-and-depression-solutions.com/articles/news/internet_addicted_adhd_0607.php <-the article about the study
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