Think about it

Hannah Harrow, a straight-A senior in high school, knows what distracts her from her studies. "Studying on the Internet is a process doomed to failure," she said. "I will start out looking up literary criticisms on a book, but end up watching videos on YouTube because one thing leads to another, and another and another."

Even when she decides to close Facebook, Gmail, and YouTube until things are finished, her resolve rarely holds out. "That resolve soon morphs into, 'Well, I'll do one problem and then reward myself with a quick Facebook check,'" she said.

Scientific studies have shown that the Internet affects students in many ways, significantly changing how they think, learn, and process information.

1. Multitasking

The Internet is built for multitasking. Multiple tabs allow people to flip from one webpage to another. Instant messenger can run while other programs are opened. Minimizing windows allows students to keep Facebook open while they write papers. Nearly half of students surveyed at one Virginia college, Patrick Henry College, admitted to having both Facebook and IM open while they write papers.

Most students think multitasking will help them to accomplish more. "The biggest benefit of multi-tasking is the productivity," sophomore Zachary Abate said. "As a journalism student especially, I feel like I need to multitask to get everything I need to do done on time."

Research suggests differently. In a 2001 study at the University of Michigan, researchers found that multitasking tended to decrease overall productivity.

"People in a work setting who are banging away on word processors at the same time they have to answer phones and talk to their co-workers or bosses -- they're doing switches all the time," David Meyer, Ph.D., one of the researchers told CNN. "Not being able to concentrate for, say, tens of minutes at a time, may mean it's costing a company as much as 20 to 40 percent" of potential productivity.

2. Online Books

Books are taking on a new form for the first time since the invention of the printing press. Nooks, iPads, Kindles, and Google Books are revolutionizing the way people read. But do these new technologies improve learning?

Research shows that the loss of one of the most basic features of books - pages - actually has negative repercussions on comprehension of material. "Scrolling or clicking through a Web document involves physical actions and sensory stimuli very different from those involved in holding and turning the pages of a book or a magazine," Nicholas Carr, author of numerous books on the effects of technology, writes in his book The Shallows.

The simple act of involving the tactile senses while reading helps readers to engage the brain in the text. The movement of students toward reading books online makes it more difficult for them to process the text's content.

3. Hyperlinks

The idea behind hyperlinks is that people will be able to explore interesting topics more conveniently by directly linking to articles of interest on a specific topic. It is intended to expand understanding and depth of learning.

But scientific research has shown that hyperlinks distract the brain from the text as the mind unconsciously evaluates whether or not to click each link. This leads to lower levels of understanding and retention. In a 2001 Canadian study, in an experiment testing the effectiveness of hyperlinks, scientists found that three-quarters of the hypertext readers had difficulty following the text and found it to be more "jumpy," while the readers of the normal text had no problems.

4. Compilation of Media

When people visit a webpage, text is interwoven with video, hyperlinks, and advertisements. The idea behind this compilation of media is that the more media used, the better people can process the information.

A 2007 study published in the journal Media Psychology experimented with two groups of people watching a presentation - one group presented with text only, and the other group with a mixture of text and audiovisual enhancements. After the presentation, viewers were given a 10-question multiple choice test on the material. While the text-only viewers answered approximately 7.04 questions correctly, multimedia viewers only answered 5.98 questions correctly.

According to researchers, the multimedia presentation "would seem to limit, rather than enhance, information acquisition."

5. Searches

A signature aspect of the Internet - the ability to search articles, books, and the Internet as a whole for keywords - is changing the way people process information. These searches draw the reader to one specific relevant area of text without providing any incentive for the reader to put the text in context or to read more in-depth. This leads to a much narrower method of learning and a superficial understanding of the material.

"When I do a Google search, I'll usually just read the first couple of lines or the immediately relevant material," junior Bridget Degnan said. "With searches, we just don't get the context that the rest of the webpage provides."

6. Online Reading

A 2006 study by scientist Jakob Nielsen discovered that articles online are changing the way that people read text. Unlike the linear left-to-right, line-by-line method of reading that is taught in school, nearly all online readers unconsciously instead read an F pattern - first reading horizontally across the top of the article, then moving down a bit in a second horizontal movement, then vertically reading along the left side of the text for the rest of the article.

This means that when students are researching online or reading books, lectures, or articles on the computer, most students are unconsciously only digesting a fraction of the material. This pattern also can become a habit and overflow into non-digital reading as well.

7. Shorter Text

There is a constant move away from long-text reading. Online journal articles gave way to news stories, news stories to blog posts, and blog posts to Facebook and Twitter updates with a 140 character limit.

As people have become more accustomed to shorter bits of information in more frequent spurts, their attention spans and attentiveness to long text has decreased. For many readers, it is much harder to sit down and read a long book like Moby Dick cover to cover. While people historically used to be able to do this, the Internet has literally rewired people's brains to absorb information more quickly, but for much shorter periods of time.

8. Breadth Not Depth

Research methods have changed significantly due to the rise of the Internet. Due to the amount of information available online, the first place most students turn is Google. This makes it easier to get information fast, but professors are concerned about this trend.

"Reading books helps you to more thoroughly learn about a subject from a reliable secondary source," Dr. Douglas Favelo, Associate Professor of History at PHC, said. "The problem with using websites as sources is you're depending mainly on tertiary sources - sources trying to sum up nuggets of info - which are not peer reviewed or as reliable or as deep."

According to professors, the quick-and-easy Google search is making it easier for students to recite facts, but not explore the topics as thoroughly.

9. Loss of Ability to Memorize

Google has made it so that people can get answers to their questions and access facts instantaneously. This has greatly improved people's overall breadth of information, but at the same time, it is undermining the importance of memorization.

"The Net quickly came to be seen as a replacement for, rather than a supplement to, personal memory," The Shallows author Carr writes.

Students no longer find it necessary to memorize dates, facts, or definitions for any longer than the time between studying and the test. Any forgotten facts can quickly be found again on Wikipedia or Google. According to scientists, the Internet has undermined the exercise of the mind through memorization.

10. Addictiveness

People joke around that they are "addicted to Facebook" or "addicted to the Internet," but Internet addiction is truly a problem. Scientists say that the Internet, like gambling, is addictive because it is reinforced by operant conditioning - a pattern of addiction born out of a cycle of rewards and punishments. Like gambling, people will continually check their Facebook or email in the hopes of getting good news or information they want to hear.

"Reinforcement is the key element," said Patricia Bonnet, an American Sign Language teacher who holds a degree in psychology. "Interesting e-mails, news articles, special sales notices 'for members only,' could be considered reinforcers as they motivate the person to be active on the Internet."

Most of the time, people are disappointed by spam messages or "boring" notifications. However, the one time that they check their email and receive that message is the "payoff," which causes their addiction and keeps them wanting to click that "refresh" button.