From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Internet reading. Is it speeding us up by dumbing us down?

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most. Human beings are not genetically programmed to read. They have to learn over time

by reading books, but books are giving way to the internet. As reading scores decline, some

researchers claim the internet is promoting quick, superficial thinking instead of the wisdom

that comes with patient study.

On to the point, nobody wants to get rid of books, but kids spend more time on the Internet.

Should schools teach them to use it critically?

Should Internet 1A be part of the basic curriculum?

On reporter's notebook later on, why did the Boston Red Sox give up an All-Star?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Mormon-Aulney. Back with To the Point. More and more kids spend long hours on the

internet. At the same time, reading scores are declining. Is there a connection? On To the

point, does the brain work differently with a book than with a computer? What's the impact on

reading proficiency?

Should schools recognize that young people are on the Internet and teach them how to use it well?

On reporter's notebook, Slugger Mani Ramirez outlived his welcome from the Boston Red Sox.

...