The problem isn’t Internet; it’s what Internet helps us to do.      

“The problem isn’t Google; it’s what Google helps us find. For some, Google will let them find useless content that does not challenge their minds. But for others, Google will lead them to expect answers to questions, to explore the world, to see and think for themselves.” – Esther Dyson, longtime Internet expert and investor

10 Reasons why US internet users go online, Q2 2009 (% of respondents):
- Pass time: 100%
- Educate self: 96%
- Connect with others: 92%
- Research: 89%
- Share: 86%
- Be entertained: 82%
- Keep informed: 79%
- Discuss: 76%
- Be part of a community: 72%
- Work (business): 69%

“People are already using Google as an adjunct to their own memory. For example, I have a hunch about something, need facts to support, and Google comes through for me. Sometimes, I see I’m wrong, and I appreciate finding that out before I open my mouth.” – Craig Newmark, founder Craig’s List

“The Internet has facilitated orders of magnitude improvements in access to information. People now answer questions in a few moments that a couple of decades back they would not have bothered to ask, since getting the answer would have been impossibly difficult.” – John Pike, Director, globalsecurity.org

“When writing itself appeared, philosophers feared that it would weaken memory and degrade intelligence. But it allowed for a great, albeit externalized memory and an enlarged, albeit shared intelligence. [...] The Internet will have similar effects, with some losses but, on balance, more gains.” – Mark U. Edwards, senior advisor to the Dean, Harvard University Divinity School

World of headlines, keywords  and focused contexts.

“When I was a boy, homework consisted of writing a paragraph. Now, youth writing paragraphs in a blink of an eye. They are mastering language only to reinvent it. They are using it in new forms. Tags. Labels. Acronyms. And the game becomes a written game of who can use written word most effectively. Reading, writing, and communicating will become much more fluid as youth are more engaged in the practice of these skills, and have a greater motivation to practice their skills.” – Robert Cannon, senior counsel for internet law at Federal Communications Commission.

The Internet is not a substitute for ordinary life off the screen. Rather, it is part of a continuum that allows people to meet their individual needs and develop new interests, often while creating collective social capital—for good and for bad. This increased personal freedom allows individuals to remake themselves to fulfill their existing desires (Gergen, 1991). It also gives rise to previously unidentified ‘‘needs and desires’’ or, perhaps more accurately, allows them to be coconstructed within the person and between the ego and the other.

Just the Stats

76% By 2020, people’s use of the Internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information, they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid.

21% By 2020, people’s use of the Internet has not enhanced human intelligence and it could even be lowering the IQs of most people who use it a lot. Nicholas Carr was right: Google makes us stupid.

4% Did not respond

Most experts agree that Google won’t make us stupid. Indeed, 76% of technology stakeholders and critics interviewed by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University believe that the Internet and search engines will enhance human intelligence by 2020.

For this new report, the Pew Research Center conducted in-depth interviews with over 800 experts about what they think the Internet will look like in 2020.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_will_the_internet_look_like_in_2020_heres_wha.php