Is Google Making Us More Innovative?
I don’t know if you managed to catch the recent article in The Atlantic called “Is Google Making You Stoopid?”. In it, the author spoke about how Google (and all modern media) is changing the way that we think. Rather than be the type of learners who pour through works with careful attention to detail and long periods of time spent on reflection, we are becoming skimmers and devoting less of our time to contemplation.
The article argued that the way our brain reads is a learned habit, as opposed to speaking which is a natural tendency. So, our learned habit is something influenced by the outside world but it is something that also influences how we see the outside world. Therefore, we no longer learn to read in a contemplative style and as such we don’t see the world in the same contemplative way. Rather than be driven by a contemplative reasoning, we are driven by an information overload by knowing a little about everything rather than everything about one thing.
So, you must know be wondering, why is she wasting my time with this article summary? Well, I wonder how the field of entrepreneurship will change if our thought processes change. If we don’t spend exhaustive time evaluating business ventures, we are more prone to failure. Yet, our ability to see many fields at once, allows us to immerse our product, brand, and creativity into a variety of venues. An obvious negative and postive thus arise on a simple level.
I wonder even more though about how a change in our way of understanding will change our ability to be innovative. Does innovation arise from a complete understanding of past successes and failures or does innovation come from looking at a situation and finding the problem? In a world of hyper-active, attention-less people, the later will come to symbolize innovation. People will be more willing to flit from option to option and from problem to problem. They will see the situation and problem in a unique vortex— as a snapshot.
I see problems with this: a lack of understanding history; a simplified view of the problem; a dearth of knowledge of the underlying factors. But I also see really unique advantages: fresh perspectives; the integration of multiple fields; a synthesis of methods for dealing with problems; a streamlined approach; an understanding and respect for the rapid pace of change. So, I am going to argue that the more googleified (my new favorite fake word) the more innovative we will become. We will have more knowledge about other fields and the ability to rapidly change and creative new trends.
However, I have been wrong a billion times before, what are your thoughts?
July 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
There is no doubt that Google is changing the way we process information but it is also saving us time for collecting information. We may not be spending as much time analyzing what we are reading but it connects us to so many other portals quickly that we will be able to find business solutions and ideas easily and thus strengthen our entire adaptation process that much more efficiently.
Farrah Ashline