new media, same as the old media

As always a must read from Pinker in the NY Times.  Mind over Mass Media.  A response to some of the hysterics about how new media is corrupting our brains.

NEW forms of media have always caused moral panics: the printing press, newspapers, paperbacks and television were all once denounced as threats to their consumers’ brainpower and moral fiber.

and

And to encourage intellectual depth, don’t rail at PowerPoint or Google. It’s not as if habits of deep reflection, thorough research and rigorous reasoning ever came naturally to people.