"I agree that having information available electronically must be altering our brain functions to some degree, as we begin to rely less and less on memory and more and more on devices."

Classic Twilight Zone episode *The Little Black Bag  *(original story by C.M. Kornbluth IIRC). A future where most humans have an IQ lower than their body temp. A few intelligent people remain and they manufacture incredible smart devices that enable the majority of people to be doctors, engineers etc. Present day down and out doctor discovers a future medical kit sent back to the past by mistake - miracles and eventual tragedy ensue.

We see schools cut back on the arts and physical education, unstructured play for children is less prevalent, replaced by TV and now the web. Information is condensed into byte sized chunks for quick consumption. Look at the ads in a 1950s era magazine and compared to today, the vocabulary is considerably more advanced. We have unprecedented access to information but I'm not that critical thinking skills haven't gone in the other direction. Some of the pundits are commenting on how the instant analysis and opinion on the Presidential debates on social media has resulted in people not actually taking time to think about what they heard.

There was a documentary on last night about the Cuban Missile Crisis. It took 12 hours for diplomatic cables between Washington and Moscow, giving Kennedy and Kruschev a lot of time to thing - and worry - about the consequences of their actions. Today, the contents would probably be published on WikiLeaks in an hour.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken