Have you ever asked yourself the question; what is the Internet doing to our minds? In the article, “Does the Internet Make You Smarter” by Clay Shirky, he is trying to show a new perspective on the effects the internet has on our minds. Clay is showing us these effects through certain lens he uses within the article. Through these lens, you are able to see the social/intellectual benefits that come from the use of internet. Shirky used a certain lens that caught my attention, which was “our cognitive surplus is so enormous that … create enormous positive effects” (pg 2). Our cognitive surplus is the amount of free time people have, which enables us to put our thoughts and ideas together. In the article, it shows how Wikipedia expresses our cognitive surplus. The article mentions how much time and human thought was devoted into creating Wikipedia. Wikipedia is useful because it took the idea of peer review and used it on a global scale. The peer review process allows people to put their ideas out, but can also be corrected by others. This taps our cognitive surplus because this website takes everyone’s ideas, which makes others exercise their minds while reflecting on what another individual has to say. Before this lens, I was unable to see how the Internet can be useful if we put our ideas together and learn how to use the web responsibly. Now I am able to see how the web helps us exercise our minds while working with one another.