Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Nicholas Carrs article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” makes points that I agree with, although I find his sources to be questionable. The article discusses the effects that the Internet may be having on our ability to focus, the difference in knowledge that we now have, and our reliance on the Internet. The points that are made throughout Carrs article are very thought provoking but his sources make them seem invaluable. Carr discusses the effects that the Internet has on our minds and the way we think, as well as the way media has changed. Our minds no longer focus.

Carr not only wonders if the Internet and Google is causing individuals to become less intelligent therefore hindering our ability to think critically but also if artificial intelligence is positive or negative. Carr is rather unsuccessful in providing evidence as to whether or not the Internet is tapering our critical thinking, however, he does in fact open up the minds of his readers and forces them to assess their own experiences with the Internet and other technologies and how their critical thinking patterns are

In modern society, people have become over reliant on the internet and as a consequence of this, our ability to think critically has reduced significantly. An author that contributes to this point, Nicholas Carr, argues in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, how the internet is turning people into weak-minded thinkers. Carr states his argument by bringing up multiple points such as how we’ve become too dependent on it, how we’ve spent a lot of time doing unproductive things on it, and how it does the majority of work for you. I believe that the internet can make people stupid, but that’s not its true intention. Despite some of the strong claims that he makes, I realized that the real issue is that people don’t know how to properly

It is common to notice that the internet has rewired our brain into multitasking much more than before. However, it was concluded after numerous studies that this kind of digital multitasking does not make us smarter or more swift in our activities, but quite on the contrary negatively impacts our academic performance. A more scientific aspect of why our brain is affected by the large sea of information that is available to us is touched upon by Eric Jaffe. The writer explains that “the barrage of new media distractions is placing new demands on cognitive processing, and especially on attention allocation […] While cause-and-effect is difficult to parse here, in some sense it doesn’t matter. If all this digital media is causing people to multi-task

Internet censorship today is unproductive, with large amounts of false positives and other common online activities would have to be blocked. This is just a waste of money for what we are getting. Guess who decides what is on the internet filter? A government department, not someone who is trained in law. Finally the internet filter will slow our already snail slow internet speeds.

If the internet is full of so much information, it should come with a caution sign warning people that it may affect and rewire their brains. The internet/Google has been reprogramming the brain without the person actually knowing it. The internet is such a powerful tool that has been controlling people and changing the brain. It has changed the brain to do things differently like thinking and working differently. The internet is negatively affecting the human brain by changing the way people think, the way people read and creating memory problems.

One of the most obvious problems with children using the internet is the chance of getting addicted. Internet addiction is a serious thing, but hasn’t drawn much attention due to the fact that it is a newer problem in society. Children that have grown up using computers will naturally be more susceptible to getting hooked on the internet. Many children spend more time on the computer than they spend watching television. Most of the time children spend on the computer can be attributed to the internet.

The cyberbullying that comes with these social networking sites definitely isn’t helping teenagers’ self-esteem or mental state. The affect these site have on academic performance is not exactly benefiting America. They may provide quick communication and a way to catch criminals, but both of these benefits have drawbacks. Taking this into consideration, the detriments of social networking overweigh the benefits, meaning that social networking is very harmful. for our society.

Tepp ignores this collateral damage. There is really no easy answer for this issue. Tepp and those like him that supported SOPA and PIPA have the right idea, but they are taking the wrong path. People do not like that criminals have run rampant across the internet. However pushing ineffective, easily defeated solutions is nothing more than wasted effort.

Does all of this mindless surfing inadvertently lead to the loss of sustained attention and reflective thought (Tucker, 2010)? As noted by Clark (2010), cognitive psychologists are concerned over the development of behaviors directly tied to people's need to be in constant connection, including directing their attention toward their... ... middle of paper ... ... (2012) point to the positive factors that the Internet brings to us by offering social networking sites that contribute to the positive well-being of users. Carr (2011) points out the double-sided coin of neuroplasticity. As evidenced by Graham and Metaxas (2003), it is easy for Internet users to fall for inaccurate information, including advertising claims, government misinformation, and propaganda. It would be prudent for schools to focus on teaching students how to accurately conduct Internet searches and identify reliable information.