Internet: Distraction OR Discovery?

We make the mistake when we treat the Internet as a "God-like source of knowledge," Jacoby said.
But it's just information...
"The internet is not making us smarter...Garbage in, garbage out" applies to everything - the Internet included.

Montgomery:
"Instant gratification" makes us lazy researchers because we stop at the topical level.

Carvin:
We should train people to effectively use the Internet.
It can be all-encompassing, what he dubbed a "Jeffersonian panacea."
People should be taught to be "constructive" citizens online.

Jacoby:
"There is no such thing as an agnostic tool."
Online reading is nothing like traditional reading.
"The Internet is designed to distract you."
Online research becomes a turkey hunt from Wikipedia.org to jean sales at Nordstrom, to the Sarah Palin turkey killing video on Youtube.org.

Hatch:
The internet is agnostic because it has "no motivation." It is a tool.

Carvin rebutes:
The Internet is not a distraction but a discovery. You can research anything!

Jacoby:
Still a distraction. "Time is finite." Both television and the Internet steal time and focus away from creative thinking and reading. Novels versus video games; which is a more valuable use of your time and brainwaves? Clearly novels, she says.