[gruseom]

I don't see the internet as a source of wisdom, or even knowledge, depending on what one means by the word. Information, certainly. But the mental habits that the internet as a mass medium fosters are antithetical to study and reflection.

I love the internet, not least because of the ease with which I can obtain information that used to take hours in the library. But obtaining specific facts is not the same thing as learning or thinking.

From observing myself and others, I believe that something is wrong. I'm getting way more brain stimulation from the internet than I used to without it, but in terms of things that matter to me in the long run -- growth and learning -- it is of poor quality. I remember the quality of a life spent with books, and this is definitely not it. I feel like I'm experiencing my own atrophy, and it dismays me. Sometimes I think that one of these days I should post a list of books to HN and promise not to come back until I've read them.

So no, consuming information from the internet is in practice nothing like getting an education in the humanities, for anyone whose brain is wired like mine and those of people I know.

Books are food, the internet is a drug.

[karamazov]

It all depends on what you view with the Internet, just like the quality of a life spent with books depends on exactly what books you're reading. If all you read is romance novels, you won't be stimulating yourself adequately; the same is true online. If you choose to access only brief news articles and simulator entries, for example, you may learn a lot; but you won't stretch your mind.

Every now and again read something difficult; something that makes you think and leaves you confused. You'll learn more in the long run. A great place start, if you happen to be interested in math, is Terence Tao's blog, and a number of the blogs he links to. (At the least, I find it challenging; the blog is over at http://terrytao.wordpress.com/ .)

[gruseom]

This is the sort of platitude that it's comfortable for everybody to agree on: it's just the quality of the material that matters, so just read better stuff. Well, no. That isn't the only thing that matters. The medium also has an effect. The internet is an excellent medium for random access to specific things and a poor medium for substantial thought and reflection. It's a mile wide and an inch deep.

Tao's blog is excellent, but how does one acquire the background necessary to understand his mathematical posts? By rolling up one's sleeves and doing hard work, most of which is likely done away from the internet. And this is the kind of thing that spending a lot of time on the internet makes it harder to do. That's my experience, anyway, as well as my observation of others'.

[trengof]

This post really resonates with me. I feel that the brain suffers without being used as a "memory store" of some kind. Maybe we use the same brain action to access memory as to access thought processes so that without the constant need to access memory we lose the other portion as well.

I am going to follow your advice, disconnect, and try to really understand some books.

[tptacek]

List of books before you can visit HN: I'm on board with that idea. HN study group. Let's make it happen.

No books on entrepreneurship allowed. :|