Running and Passing.

Much has been made of the effects of Internet use and how our brains are seemingly being reprogrammed to deal with this new wave of information. Nicholas Carr’s July/August 2008 Atlantic Magazine article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, advanced a growing dialogue about our current to cognitive state and his new book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, expands his criticism of our Internet overlord. While studies have yet to acquiesce the true effects of Internet usage on mental prowess,  but it’s important to recognize that new methods of mental processing have been introduced and we are indeed changing. Are we exercising the mental muscles that will make us smarter or rendering ourselves mere signal processing units?

Throughout history, detractors have lamented the advancement of everything from books and the telegraph, to  television and smart phones.  While we can underestimate the power of tools to reshape our minds, the fact that we possess re-mappable circuity is a feature that we should hold most dear.

I have noticed changes in my own thinking, but find simple procedures like consistent off-line reading, list making, pacing, and the achievement of pre-conceived goals to be as important as anything in maintaining awareness and focus. Oddly enough, this now brings us to running.

I recently read Haruki Murakami‘s memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and found his journeying approach to running similar to the brain stretching exercises of long form reading/study. In the past few years have become a runner of sorts. I maintain a weekly schedule that has steadily increased as my stamina has grown. I continue to find new appreciation for the physical process and expanded mental state I receive from physical activity.

There is something about the mix of physical stimulation and mental solitude that allows for a quite concentration.  As I run (bike, kenpo-x) the way in which I remember, reason or even empathize seems to be drawn out into longer strings of thought. It is as if the run provides the ability for a deeper processing of information but the in-ability to immediately act on that processing. My whims are quelled as the physical process forces me to focus on the task at hand. I am free to think about everything or nothing allowing time and and pace to guide my journey. I’m not always pondering deep thoughts while I run, but I do believe the unwinding of my mental state, regardless of intentional direct processing, allows for a different form of thought.

Maybe this is a side effect of stress release? Could me imagination be playing a greater role? How are abstract thoughts related to physical sensation and exertion?

The Internet allows us to access information with hummingbird-like quickness, but our methods for processing that information are still tied to human memory and brain power.  Our mental facilities, regardless of Internet usage,  are constantly being reprogrammed. We must acknowledge that changes are taking place and maintain a purposeful (and personal) method of processing information and making thoughtful decisions.