Internet Impact on Children

Growing up in the 1990s was not as simple as it is today. By that time, teenagers did not depend more on the internet like in the current situation. The technology devices had been scarce, and children used to play games in the fields with other young people during their leisure time. In those periods, due to lack of superior technology to store details, one had to be very keen to grasp important information and pay attention to details. Doing assignments given in college would require seriousness because one would only depend on the grasp gained in class. Things are very different in the current world by casue of most of the information needed to accomplish assignments is obtained from the internet. This implies that students do not require being very attentive in class because they have an alternative of researching the same information given in class from the internet.

Apart from the challenges I faced by growing up in the 1990’s, my life was also affected by living with Asperger’s and attention to deficit disorder. The diagnosis of such complications is made through observing the behavior of an individual. Being a highly focused individual with Asperger, I could think of things which could not be accomplished very easily. At times I could think of ideas which could not be achieved without a source of further information about it like the internet. Having an attention to detail disorder was very challenging especially in my school life. The disease could sometimes make me fail to grasp essential concepts in school which I could not compensate due to lack of technology. With the help of the internet, attention to detail disorder would not be a challenge because I would research for information about the topic from the internet at the times when I am highly focused.

Living with Asperger’s and attention to detail disorder was very challenging to me. This is because I knew what to do in social relationships but forgot to do it. If there could be adequate technology like in the current days, I would spend time entertaining myself in the internet. The disorder also made me unfocussed and forgetful which was a blow to my education and life. However, in the current period, life is very simple because of the availability of technology. People can handle so many things without the help of anybody using technology. However, the internet has done a lot of damage to our brains because people do not struggle since they have the technology available for them to use.

There are very many arguments put across to explain what the internet is doing to the brains of people. It has been revealed, both historically and scientifically that human brain respond to one’s experiences. This implies that the extreme use of internet in the current period is causing harm to our brains in many ways. Life in the 1990’s differs from the findings of Carr on what the internet is doing to our brains in many aspects.The brain was used to find, store and share information in the early years before the development of internet and technology.This implied that people could think a lot and concentrate more on gathering the required information and storing it in the brain. This is contrary to the findings of Carr. He established that the internet is making us stupid and lazy in many ways. He argued that one does not need to think a lot about where to get information from in the current world (Carr, 67). This is because the internet provides a wide range of information about the topic of choice where one can copy from. The internet makes us not to think critically about the validity of the information obtained because the many sources give one the ability to compare data from the various locations hence establishing whether it is credible or not.

In the 1990’s, one could work hard to ensure that the information obtained in school would remain in the brain for purposes of easy retrieval. This implies that children could spend more time to record the information in books where they can revise frequently. If one does not visit the books regularly, it could be difficult to remember what was taught in class. Contrary to the situation today, people do not require physical materials like stationary to store information. This is because the data requested is readily available on the internet. Technology also enables people to store information without the need for stationery. With this situation, the brain is being damaged because it is adapting not to struggle to grasp and store a lot of information. This implies that availability of internet is making the brain lazy and less active because in most cases it is not optimally engaged. The findings of Carr are very much different from the kind of life which was lived in the 1990’s.

Carr also found out that the internet prevents the brain from thinking critically. This is in contrary with the situation in 1990’s where getting information from a textbook would require one to think about it to get an understanding of the concept. One would read the book for several times before getting the concept, understanding it and storing it in the brain. Unlike in the findings of Carr about what the internet has done to our minds, one can easily sample information from various sources on the internet. It does not necessarily need one to memorize the concepts obtained from the internet because the information is readily available at any time to be retrieved.This is a clear indication that the internet is depreciating the ability of our brains to handle demanding tasks and accommodate a large quantity of information (Carr, 135).

Apart from the negative impacts, the internet has some benefits when it comes to efficiency and optimized production. This is because it enables one to acquire adequate information about a particular topic where one can make comparisons and come up with valid conclusions. This is contraryto life in 1990’s where the only source of information was the teacher and the textbook. The students believed the content in the book without establishing whether it was valid or not. Regarding productivity, the internet is playing a significant role. Availing information from various sources enables one to determine the optimum ways of production by making comparisons. This ensures that the output of people with access to the internet is better than that of people without it. Internet also ensures efficiency because the information in it is readily available and one can easily refer to it. It enables one to select the best way to accomplish a specific task using minimum struggle. Thus, the internet is to some extent sharpening our brain by filling it with information from various sources. It also enables people to gather data about different issues which are essential in life but are not taught in schools.

The internet has made life better compared to the 1990’s. This is because people do not need to struggle a lot to get specific information because it is readily available in the internet at any time. It also enables people to gather confidential data which it could be embarrassing to get it from an individual (Carr, 156). Thus, internet ensures convenience in life in many aspects. Following the challenges I faced by living with Asperger’s and attention to detail disorder, the internet could have been of importance to me. First, it could enable me to gather information which I could not get in class due to lack of attention. It would also keep me company especially when I have problems with social relationships. When am over focused and fantasized, I would ascertain the validity of the idea in mind by researching it from the internet. Thus, the internet could have been a solution to the challenges I faced by growing up in the 1990’s and living with Asperger’s and the attention to detail disorder.

In conclusion, the internet has done some damage to the brain because it encourages laziness. However, it has also been beneficial to it in some way because it enables one to compare information from various sources about the same topic. Usage of computers and internet in the future will be a norm, and no one would be able to avoid it following the rapid development in technology. It may affect learning institutions in future because students could be able to get lectures from their tutors online without necessarily requiring physical appearance. Thus, despite its negative impacts, it will be complicated to avoid the usage of internet in the future.

Work Cited

Carr, Nicholas. "Author Nicholas Carr: The web shatters focus, rewires brains." Wired. com 24 (2010).