Becoming Stupid with Your Pal Google

1845 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of online education

We have all done it. We are all affected by it, but we don’t even realize what is happening. Even I am shot by the invisible bullet; the internet. At first glance the internet seems to be great. If you want to know who batted for the Red Socks in 1978, Google it. If you want to see a street view of Rome, Google Maps has your back. Do you need to see if the price on that new purse dropped? Amazon is there, instantly. It seems like the information on the internet is endless, and in a way it is. One website, Youtube, adds over six-thousand days of video per day (youtube.com). You may be thinking that this is great, but most of that information is useless. In that six-thousand days of video you may be able to watch a day’s worth over a whole week, and that is only if you are extremely dedicated to wasting time. As you watch these videos throughout the week, more information is being added. You are only obtaining a day’s worth of information, more likely entertainment, out of forty-two-thousand days of video. Inevitably, some of this information will be on the same subject. There may be dozens of videos based on a single idea, but the question arises: What video is getting it right? This is one of the many problems that we are running into while using the internet to learn. Many people believe that the internet is a great tool for education due to its information, but I believe that the internet is a giant storm that holds too much information for us to handle.
Schools are turning over more and more assignments via the internet. Kids don’t have to bring home fifty-pound backpacks, scavenge through dozens of folders just looking for a single blank sheet of paper, and to a paperless generation these facts seem great. However, the mental...

... middle of paper ...

...uter world and there is nothing to be done; it is life for us. In the next couple of sentences you are probably going to go over the final grade and then go on the web. I don’t blame you for using it, but please, for your own sake, watch your step and don’t get caught in the worlds best spun web.

Works Cited
“Statistics” Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 July 2008. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
"How the Internet Is Making Us Stupid." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 27 Aug. 2010. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
"Is the Internet Making Us Stupid?" Is the Internet Making Us Stupid? Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
"Mr. Personality." Is Technology Making Us Stupid (and Smarter)? Web. 05 Apr. 2014.
"Is the Internet Making Us Stupid?" Is the Internet Making Us Stupid? Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Nicholas Carr's 'Is Google Making USupid?'

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nicholas Carr, a periodic writer on issues such as technology and culture, wrote the article called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (743) In this, he discusses the way that not only Google, but also the advancement in technology, especially computers and computer engines is slowly altering our brain, along with the way we take in information. The process started back in the 1970’s and 1980’s when technology got a jump in society. For example “television was our medium of choice” says Carr (747). From then on it has been a slow decline for the way we process information. Throughout this essay Carr backs up the reasons why he feels the way by using different types of figurative language, deductive reasoning, plus the use of logical fallacies that can strengthen or may even weaken his argument.

    Read More

  • Google's Impact on Human Cognition

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Andrea Schlesinger’s, “In Google We Trust” a chapter in her book The Death of Why? The issue is that the internet has changed people and that it may not be a good thing. Google has changed the way that people think greatly, especially in our ability to analyze, understand and know the source of the information we receive from google.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of If Technology Is Making USupid, It's Fault By David Theo Goldberg

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Goldberg, David Theo. “If Technology Is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault.” Blog. Digital Humanities. August 16, 2010. Gooch and Suyler. in Argument. Avenue of the Americas, New York.2011. 301-03. Print.

    Read More

  • Is Google Making Us Stupid?, by Nicholas Carr

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    The internet is our conduit for accessing a wide variety of information. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr discusses how the use of the internet affects our thought process in being unable to focus on books or longer pieces of writing. The author feels that “someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain” over the past few years (Carr 731). While he was easily able to delve into books and longer articles, Carr noticed a change in his research techniques after starting to use the internet. He found that his “concentration often [started] to drift after two or three pages” and it was a struggle to go back to the text (Carr 732). His assertion is that the neural circuits in his brain have changed as a result of surfing endlessly on the internet doing research. He supports this statement by explaining how his fellow writers have had similar experiences in being unable to maintain their concentrations. In analyzing Carr’s argument, I disagree that the internet is slowly degrading our capacity for deep reading and thinking, thereby making us dumber. The Web and Google, indeed, are making us smarter by allowing us access to information through a rapid exchange of ideas and promoting the creativity and individualization of learning.

    Read More

  • Is Google Making Us Stupid?, by Nicholas Carr

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the rise of technology and the staggering availability of information, the digital age has come about in full force, and will only grow from here. Any individual with an internet connection has a vast amount of knowledge at his fingertips. As long as one is online, he is mere clicks away from Wikipedia or Google, which allows him to find what he needs to know. Despite this, Nicholas Carr questions whether Google has a positive impact on the way people take in information. In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr explores the internet’s impact on the way people read. He argues that the availability of so much information has diminished the ability to concentrate on reading, referencing stories of literary types who no longer have the capacity to sit down and read a book, as well as his own personal experiences with this issue. The internet presents tons of data at once, and it is Carr’s assumption that our brains will slowly become wired to better receive this information.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Critique Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every day there is some new technological advancement making its way into the world in an attempt to make life easier for people. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, author Nicholas Carr explains his thoughts on how he believes the internet is running the risk of making people full of artificial knowledge. Carr begins by explaining how he feels that the web is causing his focus issues, how he can no longer be completely immersed in a book, and the reason why he gets fidgety while reading. He then goes on to talk about how his life is surrounded by the internet and how that is the blame for the issues he has towards not being able to stay connected to a text; but at the same time says how and why the web has been a ‘godsend’ because he is a writer. In an attempt to draw the reader in, Carr uses a great deal of rhetorical appeals. He compares the differences of the past and the present and how he feels how it has changed not only himself, but others as well and how they are able to comprehend and focus due to the growing nature of the web. While comparing this, he accumulated research from several credited writers who feel the same way he does about the effects of the web.

    Read More

  • Nicholas Carr

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    Atlantic journalist Nicholas Carr confesses that he feels something has been “tinkering with his brain.” The internet, he fears, may be messing with our minds. We have lost the ability to focus on a simple task, and memory retention is steadily declining. He is worried about the effect the internet has on the human brain, and where it may take us in the future. In response to this article, Jamais Cascio, also a journalist for the Atlantic, provides his stance on the issue. He argues that this different way of thinking is an adaptation derived from our environment. Ultimately, he thinks that this staccato way of thinking is simply a natural evolution, one that will help to advance the human race.

    Read More

  • “Is Google Making Us Stupid” and “Get Smarter”

    1364 Words  | 3 Pages

    Humans are becoming more technologically-efficient every day. New inventions and innovations are constantly being made. The Internet is becoming more “reliable” every day. However, how much do we really get from the constant advancement of Internet use and smarter technology? Should we look at their contributions to the world as a benefactor or a curse? The common effect of “artificial intelligence” in the technology we use every day is examined by two brilliant authors, Nicholas Carr and Jamias Cascio. In Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he explains the effects of the Internet and technology in our society and claims that the overuse of technology is dangerous and can affect how our mind operates. Jamias Cascio, on the other hand, uses his article “Get Smarter” to show the positive effects of technology in our constantly adaptive society claims that technology may just be making our society smarter and more efficient. While Carr and Cascio both use the claim of cause in their articles to provide valid points on how technology affects our society, Carr’s article proves to be more effective because it focuses on skeptical-based evidence and uses a variety of appeals and proofs.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'How Facts Backfire And Is Google Making USupid'

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the articles, “How Facts Backfire” and “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Keohane and Carr explain the cognitive blocks we are faced with in society. Keohane explains how we can be misinformed because of our beliefs. These beliefs can cloud our judgement of what is true and what isn’t true. Carr focuses on how the internet has changed the way we think. Carr includes how the internet can distract us, making tasks harder to complete. Both Keohane and Carr show us the negatives side effects of cognition.

    Read More

  • Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    If you find yourself skimming through pages, looking for bullet points and your mind wandering off, you might be suffering the effects of Google making you stupid. These are the things that Nicholas Carr talks about in his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” was originally published in July 2008 in Atlantic magazine. Carr argues that the use of technology on the daily basis has made us unable to go into deeper thought about things. Along with the opinion of Scientists and other “literary types” he asserts that the web has indeed made us change the way we think. Power Browsing is the new way people are reading, this is where you look from title to title, surfing the web from link to link. Overall, he advocates that eventually our brains will

    Read More

  • Does Clay Shirky's Does The Internet Make You Smarter?

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    The argument that the web is to blame for making us dumb by Nicholas Carr convinces his audience that they might succumb to becoming braindead due to excessive online clicking. Hopping from link to link never fully understanding the content. While Michael Rosenwald points out that we are slowly molding the brain to only skim and search for key words to put together. With these two programed ways our brains work soon libraries and book stores will cease to exist. Or will they? Clay Shirky challenges this thought by saying that among the cat videos and conspiracy theories there lies true gold within the websites of the internet. The gold consists of scientific journals and a place to discuss anything and everything. A community to share ideas and culture. Has the internet changed your brain for the

    Read More

  • Is Google Making USupid

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    Humans have been creating tools that allow us to be do things that would be otherwise impossible since the beginning of our existence. The ability to use and develop new tools is what sets us apart from all other animals. Yet it seems that ever since these tools started being created there were also people that feared these new tools and claimed that they are bad for the human race. The present fear of new technology is illustrated in the essay “Is Google Making us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr. In this essay Carr argues that the internet and other new technologies are changing the way we think in a negative way. Carr claims that new technology is making our generation stupid. In opposition the article “Smarter Than You Think” by Clive Thompson

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    What if someone told you the devices you were using everyday were rewiring your brain? Would you believe them? In the article Is Google Making Us Stupid? author Nicholas Carr brought up the topic of Google, and the internet, affecting the way we read and think. Carr opened up the article by relating his topic to a scene from the movie 2001:

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Is Google Making USupid And Sherry Turkle

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid” and Sherry Turkle’s “How Computers Change the Way We Think” both discuss the influence of technology to their own understanding and perspective. The first work by Nicholas Carr is about the impact technology has on his mind. He is skeptical about the effect it could cause in the long term of it. He gives credible facts and studies done to prove his point. While Sherry Turkle’s work gives a broad idea of the impact of technology has caused through the years. She talks about the advances in technology and how it is changing how people communicate, learn and think. In both works “Is Google Making Us Stupid” and “How Computers Change the Way We Think” the authors present

    Read More

  • Technology and Today's Youth

    2334 Words  | 5 Pages

    Is Google Making Us Stupid? - Magazine - The Atlantic. (n.d.). The Atlantic — News and analysis on politics, business, culture, technology, national, international, and life – TheAtlantic.com. Retrieved April 21, 2012, from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/

    Read More

More about Becoming Stupid with Your Pal Google

Open Document