Death of the Original Thought?

I used to have 'original' thoughts all the time. I prided myself in being unusually creative and able to draw intricate connections between content and ideas from readings in books, listening to lectures, music, and more. But now there's Google.

A few weeks ago I was doing some research on Internet addiction, learning about the similarities between this and other habit forming social media addictions, like gambling, eating disorders and sex addiction. Then, I moved onto more readings on the human mind and how computers are able to fulfill a social need for connection with other people while simultaneously isolating individuals from their current, physically present, friends, coworkers and family members.

Then, I thought about Internet psychology and how computers have become an extension of the human brain and how reliant we have become as a society on the Internet and e-mail to keep track of thousands of details from history and pop culture ... names, dates, conversion tables, news, current events, it's all on the Web for anyone to look up at any time.

Then, I wondered as computers evolve and adapt abilities and tasks that we used to perform independently (though less speedily or frequently), are our own brains evolving to work better in this rapid-fire Internet culture? Are computers, in effect, changing the way we think and process information? Are computers changing our brains?

I typed my 'original' phrase (in quotes) into Google ... and found 81 exact references on the Net. Hmm, not so original after all, but very interesting reading.