Abstract
In this chapter, we analyze the relationships between the Internet
and its users in terms of situated cognition theory. We first argue that the Internet is a new kind of cognitive ecology, providing almost constant access to a vast amount of digital information that is increasingly more integrated into our cognitive routines. We then briefly introduce situated cognition theory
and its species of embedded, embodied, extended, distributed and collective
cognition. Having thus set the stage, we begin by taking an embedded
cognition view and analyze how the Internet aids certain cognitive tasks. After
that, we conceptualize how the Internet enables new kinds of embodied
interaction, extends certain aspects of our embodiment, and examine how
wearable technologies that monitor physiological, behavioral and contextual
states transform the embodied self. On the basis of the degree of cognitive
integration between a user and Internet resource, we then look at how and
when the Internet extends our cognitive processes. We end this chapter with
a discussion of distributed and collective cognition as facilitated by the Internet.