Writers like Nick Carr are convinced that it is. He thinks that fewer people engage in contemplative activities because the web distracts them so much. "With the exception of alphabets and number systems," he writes, "the net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use." But technology giveth and technology taketh away. For every techno-pessimist like Carr, there are thinkers like Clay Shirky, Jeff Jarvis, Yochai Benkler, Don Tapscott and many others (including me) who think that the benefits far outweigh the costs
Is the web making us stupid?