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“Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
There’s a lot of controversy about the internet transforming and changing our brains drastically, but not in a proper way. Is Google making us stupid? Many people believe this to be true, and it has been proven time and time again. This article was written in July and August of 2008 by Nicholas Carr, and he argues the statement that over many years, reading and writing has rehabilitated a lot because everything used to be written on paper and people’s focus was improved while reading on paper, but now everyone writes articles online, and it is more difficult to focus while reading, because there are many sites to look at and read, so many people just skip from article to article without ever thoroughly evaluating
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Carr says, “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” When the author says this, the reader can tell how he feels and he is not pleased about the issue. Carr also explains how every time he reads, it seems he is constantly having to drag his brain back to the text all the time, because he cannot stay fixated on the internet, due to so many distractions. Then, Carr moves into using logical appeals to prove that the argument is true, and there have been studies to prove that the internet can be a corrupt way of researching and reading, because people bounce around from site to site too much, and this has become a big concern over the years. At the beginning, Carr lays the foundation of the argument by explaining how some people have recently been experiencing a weird modification in their thought process and how their minds are changing and dragging down and he is wondering why this is happening. He continues by explaining that he knows the problem and goes on to explain that this has been happening since the internet has become better-quality, and it has slowly over time pulled us away from …show more content…
For example, when the author explains how reading used to be a natural ability, but now it is hard and distracting, and he also experiences always having to drag his brain back to the text. All of these are things he has experienced and gives his credit to be trusted on the issue. Also, Carr explains, “I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet” (Carr). In this explanation he begins to tell the reader roughly what he has personally noticed which is a good sign because we get his point of view on the argument about google and the internet in general, distracting us and transforming our brains to not let us concentrate as well as we used to be able to, and this establishes his credibility very well. The author had a pronounced way of explaining and giving examples to the reader so we could better understand the point he was attempting to get across to us. With all of these great aspects to the article, there are some weaknesses that draw the reader away from understanding the context. Sometimes, the author goes too deep into his argument and loses all focus, leaving the reader with an absent mind on what the
While his best arguments come from cultural criticism. Written text led to the decline of oral reading and television obliterated the radio. Every technology comes with it’s trade-offs, it just comes down to moderation. There is little doubt that the internet is changing our brain. What Carr neglects to mention, however, is how the internet can change our brain for the better. Computer games have the ability to improve cognitive tasks and increase visual attention. He doesn’t always address the good effects that the internet has had on the world. One of the better strategies Carr uses is switching his point of view from third to first person. He reflects on his personal life and how his life has changed in response to what he has learned. Carr shows how even he has his faults but, being aware of a problem is the first step to finding
Advancements in technology have strived to make life easier for so many people. In most cases, the advancements have achieved its goal, but in the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr questions if the improvements in society have unintentionally hindered our thought process overall. Carr begins the article by providing personal instances when his concentration seemed to diminish due to the internet. He explains how he now loses interest when reading lengthy portions, his mind just can’t seem to remain connected to his readings. He then proceeds to talk about how today’s life is surrounded by the internet, and explains the pros and cons of it. The negative side of it is that his mind now wonders off when seeking information from
The author attempts to build a focus around the importance preserving our mind, he writes, “But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps a new sense of the self. ‘We are not what we read…. We are how we read’ (395). Provided that Carr focuses on the safeguarding of our minds his intentions are to appeal into an individual’s emotion and bring them to the conclusion that if we continue to let the internet distract us we will lose our self’s. He recognizes that when speaking of an individual’s self they are mindfully more open to accepting what you tell them and he uses this as another one of his writing strategies. Nicholas Carr writes, “As we are drained of our ‘inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,’ Foreman concluded, we risk turning into ‘pancake people—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”’ (399) by adding this statement within the essay, he is drastically appealing to a reader’s emotion. The conclusion drawn from this claim triggers the reader’s need to defend their identity consequently these emotions triggered by possibilities help the reader give into the authors argument. The author appeals to the audience’s emotion by encompassing their sense of true self and
He gives many examples to talk about how social media change our lives. When reading, I see many examples of the interviewers that are similar to my daily, so I think Thompson’s writing is very persuasive. Also, I can feel Thompson’s attitude that he agrees that social media make people easier, but is still concerned that social media will waste too many time and violate privacy. Thompson follows the logical argument style, giving examples and then talking effects. Through the logical argument style, Thompson can let readers picture their experience of social media, and lead them to think about the effects that social media bring them, therefore make his statement more convincing. In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr tells us his concern through scientific details and examples. I can feel his attitude that truly concern about our thinking ability that has been harmed by online reading. He also uses logical argument style, but he put more effort on the scientific analysis. This argument style can let readers get to know the subject in a scientific way and let the essay more
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.
He claimed that before internet journals were so widespread that he immerse himself lengthy articles and book with no issues of his attention span shortening and drifting away. “My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and i’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose.” It is a little daring to say that the internet is essentially rewiring the human brain cognitive function. It’s fair to say that it is prohibiting the mind to think as complexly as it needs to because the information is so readily available now, but attaining information is not as lengthy as it used to be like having to go to the library for
In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” the reader finds all three methods of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos in emphasizing his point that Google is possibly making people stupid; but it is ultimately the people who cause their own mental deterioration. His persuasion is a reminder to people of the importance of falling back on the “traditional” ways of reading. He also understands that in skimming an article one has the ability to retain what is necessary. Carr himself points out that in the past he was better able to focus on what he read and retain the information. However, now he exercises the process of browsing and skimming over information, just as many individuals have come to do in this day and age.
Author Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google making us Stupid,” discusses how the use of the computer affects our thought process. Carr starts out talking about his own experience as a writer and how he felt like “something had been tinkering with his brain, remapping his neural circuitry and reprogramming his memory”(313). Basically, he is acknowledging that since he started using the Internet his research techniques have changed. Carr believes that before he would immerse himself in books, lengthy articles and long stretches of prose allowing his mind to get caught up in the narrative or the
Carr explains how the internet can distract us making it harder to focus on tasks. He explains how processing information has become harder. Notifications, ads, popups can make it difficult if you are trying to read an article or book (Carr 57). The internet has become the center of our attention (Carr 57). Carr is explaining how this is the reason why we are struggling to comprehend a certain piece of information. He adds in his article that scientists, researchers and educators have also noticed the difference in concentration. And in further detail, he explains that we fail to see the important information, thus affecting cognition. He says that the information we gather is not valuable unless we know the meaning behind it. Carr concludes with explaining that the more the internet evolves the less valuable information is to
His first few paragraphs relate to the audience with a sense of pathos that continues to reappear as the essay unravels. For example, Carr states, “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle” (2). This anecdote generates the citation of research when he presents developmental psychologist and author, Mary-anne Wolf. Having written Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. “We are how we read.”, wolf proves to be a reliable source, as well as an accurate development in Carr’s theory. She notes, “When we read online, we tend to become mere decoders of information.” (8). That statement opens a window for Carr to expand on his original idea in saying, “Our ability to interpret text, to make rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.” (8). It’s no secret that Wolf would agree. After just a mere search of her name titles appear such as, The Importance of Deep Reading, Is Online Skimming Hurting Reading comprehension, and How the Internet Is Rewiring Our Brains. If Carr’s theory is in fact correct, it would be fair to assume that most readers would look no further than that for proof. Carr however, omits that Wolf has evolved in her expressions, writing articles such as, Balance Technology and Deep Reading to Create Biliterate Children, Being a Better Online Reader, and Children of the Code. While this doesn’t exactly
Rhetorical Analysis: “Is Google Making Us Stupid” In composing “Is Google Making Us More Stupid” Nicholas Carr wants his audience to be feared by the internet while at the same time he wants his work to seem more credible. Nicholas Carr uses many different types of evidence to show us that we should be scared and feared, as well as his credibility. Carr’s audience is people who think like him, who find themselves getting lost on the internet while reading something, someone who is educated and uses the internet to look up the answers to questions or to read an article or book. From the beginning of Carr’s article, he explains that the internet itself is making “us” more stupid. Carr talks about how his mind has changed over the years because of reading and looking things up on the internet.
Nowadays people don’t bother sitting down and going through an article or book from page to page, because it’s not a good use of their time as they can get all information faster through the web. By examining the behaviors of computer users, both authors argue that people don’t really care about deep knowledge of what they are learning or reading. People want to know how things work or are connected in an instant. They feel that they don't need to critically think about the information to help get them along in life. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” supports this claim by citing a scientific study from the University College London were the researchers examined the behavior of visitors to a couple popular websites and found that people using the sites displayed skimming activity (41). The users of the sites did not bother taking the time to read the articles, but they instead power browsed, jumping from one site to the other and hardly returning to the websites they had already visited. In addition, the internet has made people accustomed to new reading styles that people don’t fully comprehend or absorb material. They read things for apparent meaning. Carr also says “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.”
He states how he used to spend hours reading, but his concentration started to drift after two or three pages. He backed up his theory with stories from others who say they’re experiencing the same thing. But they still await the long-term neurological and psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how the internet affects cognition. After a brief history lesson, Carr starts to incorporate Google into the article. He tells us about Google’s history and their mission. Carr states how Google, and the internet itself, have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind. Apparently these companies do not want us reading slowly or for leisure. Carr then ends the article by stating that we are turning into robots ourselves, and that we are relying on computers to mediate our understanding of the
In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr disputes that due to new digital tools, peoples’ ability to retain and acquire information has been negatively altered. Even though, we have information at our fingertips, we often don’t take the time to soak in all the information. Carr mentions Bruce Friedman, a blogger, who finds it extremely difficult to read a “longish article on the web” and to try to focus on the importance of the text holistically (Carr 316). This is an issue that many can relate even Carr knows that, “ the deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle (Carr 314). Additionally, media theorist Mcluhan describes the net as “chipping away [mental] capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 315). In essences, Carr states that we are having less of an attention span and consequently, less patience for longer articles (Carr 314). Therefore, this affects media outlets such as magazines, newspapers, and other articles, because they must conform and shorten their texts to fit the status quo that people safely enjoy (Carr 321). In addition, the net forces people to be efficient, and so, causes people to “weaken [their] capacity for deep reading” (Carr 317). People are becoming more driven on how quick he or she has to do something rather than think why this text is important. As a consequence, Carr believes that we are starting to lose our ability to be critical readers and
Nicholas Carr argues in his controversial article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that technology, specifically; the Internet and the devices we use to access the Internet (smartphones, computers, and tablets) are having detrimental effects on mental cognition. I do not think these effects are limited to just the way we are reading. It is beyond...