Is the Internet making you stupid? Many academics say sites like Twitter — and the Internet at large — are devouring our brains like zombies. But is it really the Internet’s fault that you decided to follow Snooki? No! Smart ideas do exist online, and you can absorb them into your deteriorating grey matter if you know where to find them. Then you can tell professor Mark Bauerlein (author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future) where he can shove it!

Start by adding these braniacs to your Twitter feed.

Economics

@Richard_Florida is an economist and bestselling author on the topic of how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy.

@dambisamoyo is an economist and author whose last book, How The West Was Lost, examines America’s decline in economic supremacy.

@pkedrosky is a self-proclaimed ‘dangerous Twitterer’ who also happens to be a popular financial blogger, contributing editor for Bloomberg, and active investor.

Education

@QueenRania is an advocate for quality education in Jordan and around the world. Her Jordan River Foundation helps families work themselves out of poverty.

@coolcatteacher is not only a teacher, but a social media savvy ‘edublogger’ and IT Director for Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia, whose award winning projects have linked students around the globe in collaborative education.

@NMHS_Principal is much more than a cool principal — he’s also a speaker and innovator in the realm of using social media to engage students and help educators grow professionally.

@Atul_Gawande is a surgeon, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and a staff writer for New Yorker magazine. His New York Times bestseller, The Checklist Manifesto, is about the power of checklists for success.

@marionnestle is a professor and author on the topics of food safety, health and how the food industry influences our health and nutrition.

Politics

@ezraklein is an opinionated blogger on the topics of economic and domestic policy. He’s been a guest on CNN, MSNBC, NPR and C-SPAN.

@GStephanopoulos is a two-time winner of the Annenberg School of Journalism’s Walter Cronkite Award for Political Journalism.

@JoeTrippi is a political strategist and former Silicon Valley consultant who was one of the first to recognize the political power of the Internet.

Science

@timberners_lee is regarded as the creator of the World Wide Web. Enough said.

@RichardDawkins is an ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author. He is credited with introducing the term ‘meme’, which first appeared in his book The Selfish Gene, about gene-centered evolution.

@Prof_S_Hawking is a famous theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the most prestigious civilian award in the U.S.

Tech

@mashable, founded by Pete Cashmore, is a popular news blog focusing mainly on breaking social media news. It reportedly receives 30+ million monthly pageviews.

@patricknorton is the managing editor at Revision3 Internet Television, where he hosts Tekzilla, a show featuring tech gear reviews.

@leolaporte is a technology journalist and the host and producer of The Tech Guy, a nationally syndicated radio show. He holds the record for the longest live streamed crowd-surf, which he performed at SXSW Interactive on March 14, 2010.

Now go forth and nurture thy brains! Read more about how to become a better person via Twitter.