• RoughType, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 1:25 PM

Citing unspecified studies, author Nicholas Carr claims that, "People who read hypertext comprehend and learn less ... than those who read the same material in printed form ... The more links in a piece of writing, the bigger the hit on comprehension." How big a "hit" is not clear, nor is how the presence of links might affect marketing messages.

"I don't want to overstate the cognitive penalty produced by the hyperlink (or understate the link's allure and usefulness), but the penalty seems to be real, and we should be aware of it," argues Carr. For the author, the link is just one part of a larger problem presented by digital media, today, which he explores in his new book, "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains." "I examine the hyperlink as just one element among many -- including multimedia, interruptions, multitasking, jerky eye movements, divided attention, extraneous decision making, even social anxiety -- that tend to promote hurried, distracted, and superficial thinking online," says Carr. "To understand the effects of the Web on our minds, you have to consider the cumulative effects of all these features rather than just the effects of any one individually."

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