Yesterday I read Sally Thomas's article from the November issue of First Things, and tonight I discovered (via Owen and Zach) that it's online for free. It's called "iPhones Have Consequences." (I doubt she wrote the headline--the article doesn't mention iPhones once.) But it's a helpful piece on how ease of access to information can actually make us dumber.
She relies quite a bit on Mark Bauerlein’s book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future; or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30.
Someone with a very different perspective on this is Steven Johnson, who wrote Everything Bad Is Good for You.
For some good thoughts on the debate, see Alan Jacobs's posts:
