We Are Hardwired to Google

From Slate, an article on the seductive lure of clicking through to the next bit of information. The graph that had my number all over it:

Ever find yourself sitting down at the computer just for a second to find out what other movie you saw that actress in, only to look up and realize the search has led to an hour of Googling? Thank dopamine. Our internal sense of time is believed to be controlled by the dopamine system. People with hyperactivity disorder have a shortage of dopamine in their brains, which a recent study suggests may be at the root of the problem. For them even small stretches of time seem to drag. An article by Nicholas Carr in the Atlantic last year, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" speculates that our constant Internet scrolling is remodeling our brains to make it nearly impossible for us to give sustained attention to a long piece of writing. Like the lab rats, we keep hitting "enter" to get our next fix.

I admit to watching old movies with my laptop open to IMDB to find out who wrote/starred in/directed the film, and then going further down the rabbit hole to find out what else that person has done, and... Although I usually resist the urge to hop from IMDB into the marshes of Google, and then out into the wild 'net. At least while the film is on.

I like to think I come by some of this naturally. If I'm at a library researching stuff I can just as easily fall into a book and go from that book to the six others I take down from the shelf. Is this turning my brain to fudge? I'm not sure. Hmm. Fudge. Wonder if there are any good recipes for fudge on food.com...