The following post is one of a small group I have written over the past 13 years that have attracted the most readers. This one originally appeared in 2010. I have revised and updated it.

Over the next month or so, I will revise other posts that have drawn the most viewers.

TheNew Yorkercartoon about the decrease in Neanderthal communication when the technology of fire was invented pokes fun at the current hullabaloo over users’ addiction to smart phones, iPads, and laptops. As this cartoon does.

Recent media stories have played out two sides of an ancient argument. Consider ancient Greek philospherSocrates’take on the invention of writing: “[it] will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.”

Whenever access to new technologies increased the flow of information…