Is It "A Small Price To Pay"?

This week, our ethics and technology class was assigned to look over some of the posts regarding the question of the year for 2010 "Is the Internet changing the way we think?". I found most of the experts responses very interesting as all of them seemed to take a different approach giving readers many different things to consider. The post titled "A Small Price To Pay" posted by Psychologist and Dean of Social Sciences at Harvard University, Stephen M. Kosslyn. The title struck me because in today's society, when I think of computers and technology, I think of big prices. We have to buy a piece, well multiple pieces of technology in order to use the Internet. In today's society everyone is trying to get the latest gadgets and the most high tech equipment, which of course is pricey.
However, as I continued to read Kosslyn's thoughts, I realized he was not referring to the technology that we access the internet but the internet itself. Kosslyn discussed how much we, as Internet users, can access just by having internet. Kosslyn stated "Even in its current state, the Internet has extended my memory, perception, and judgment". I completely agree and feel that if everyone looked at the internet in this form, then yes, we could say the internet has changed the way we think, and that this change was for the good.
I will be the first to admit that the internet can sometimes be more of a distraction then a resource. I have actually been interrupted by facebook a few times as I have been posting this blog. Facebook along with other sites have a tendency to take over our lives, but at the same time, it is so easy for me to "chat" a friend who is online if I happen to forget my homework or if I am in need of other information. As Kosslyn goes into detail on explaining how the internet has made these extensions, the memory extension parallel really stuck out to me. Obviously, everything we read online will not stay in our memory just because of us browsing, but because everything online is so accessible, Kosslyn points out how easy and helpful it is to remember where that information was to go back and use it if needed.
Internet can improve one's judgement if the internet is used properly. For example, Wikipedia is a website that can be edited, so when accessing information from that site, it is important to have back-up sources too. There are also many forms of gossip and rumors floating around in cyberspace, so again it is important to not trust everything you see online. However, as Kosslyn states in his argument, we can also use these sites to our advantage, to check and double check and triple check. In conclusion, if we all look at the internet in the same way as Kosslyn, the internet will change the way we think for the good.