Can't help but add Socrates' comments to Phaedrus in the Plato's dialogue Phaedrus (around section 274), to the effect that writing destroys man's faculty of memory, and bestows only a superficial sort of learning.
As Socrates relates it, the Egyptian god Theuth describes various inventions to the king Thamus:
"But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours 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. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality."
> they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence [...]; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing;
Somewhat OT, but this seems to apply very well to the effect of Google on many of us too. While this originally referred simply to the 'availability' of knowledge in external sources, with Google (and the Internet as a whole) it becomes 'easy accessibility', which is perhaps even more dangerous. Dangerous unless we make conscious effort to avoid this phenomenon and use the technology for our enrichment.
BTW strictly speaking, that's criticizing reading, not writing. Which may sound like a distinction without a difference, but I find the act of writing improves my recall; and, sadly, reading my notes profoundly unenlightening.
Also, the article says it's even more effective (I must try this) to say it aloud. I expect further interactivity with ones mental model (problem solving, discussion, argument) improves it further still.
"Socrates wasn’t wrong—the new technology [writing] did often have the effects he feared—but he was shortsighted. He couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge (if not wisdom)." - Nicholas Carr (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google)
As Socrates relates it, the Egyptian god Theuth describes various inventions to the king Thamus:
"But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours 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. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality."
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:tex...