Is Technology a Hindrance to Human Development?

771 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of technology in society

The search for information has long been an obsession of humans. Understanding the world and learning new concepts have driven humans to progress in life. But what if humanity’s need for information and advancement lead to something far from expected? What if in humanity’s race to preserve and extract knowledge, they end up losing something greater while in the process? Technology has come a long way since the typewriter and information has become available to more people around the globe. Along with the development of advanced technology, people’s way of thinking has changed. The internet, being one of humanities main source of information, could in fact cause a negative impact to the way human’s brain functions and the way humans behave.
The methods of searching information for a research paper or for pure knowledge have become easier to find. Carr states, “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information” (pg.610). Carr is correct due to the fact that people now have Google, Yahoo, and MSN, to name a few, as helpful search engines for information. Connection to the world is simultaneous and the vast ocean of information is easily available for exploration. Traditional libraries are a concern of the past due to the invention of online libraries. Articles, videos, blogs, books, and many other mediums are accessed quickly on technological devices.
However, as beneficial as the internet appears to be there are changes that occur inside the human brain. Changing from books to e-books might not seem like a drastic change but if one compares past behaviors with present behavior there will be a noticeable difference. Carr states an example of Friedrich Nietzche who bought a typew...

... middle of paper ...

...erience but cannot do anything about it because they are surrounded constantly by the world of technology.
Humans, due to constant contact with technology, will slowly weaken what took years to develop, deep reading. Maryanne Wolf states that humans, when reading online, will set aside their deep reading abilities and cause them to be “mere decoders of information” (Pg.611). If the problem continues, the world could possible end up different then what people know it as today. Books could become obsolete and everything will have to be completed or viewed online just as the Britannica was moved online in 2012. Information would also be accessed even quicker but not memorized.

Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing. Ed. Nancy R. Comley, et al. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 609-618. Print.

Show More
Related

  • 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

  • Is Google Making USupid? By Nicholas Carr

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Thompson's Brave New World Of Digital Intimacy

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr concerns about spending too much time on web, making people lose the patient and ability to read and think and changing people’s thinking behaviors. He gives so many points: he can not read lengthy article used to be easy; many author begin to feel that too much reading online let them hard to read and absorb a longish article; we put efficiency and immediacy above understanding when we read; The circuits in brain has been altered by reading habit.

    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 Analysis Of 'Is Google Making USupid'

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Technology In The Shallows

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Nicholas Carr’s novel The Shallows, Carr believes that technology is taking over the way we should think. Anytime a person researches and reads online there is potentially significant damage to the way the human brain processes and retains information. When a person think about looking up information or just looking for something to do, they make a beeline for the Internet. Very few people are willing to pick up a book and start reading it these days, they would rather use digital media or other Network. The Network is very powerful and is getting more powerful each day. Andrew Brown once said “The internet is so big, so powerful, and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life.” (Brown Brainyquotes). Although the Internet easily catches the reader’s eye and has become more common in schools in recent years, the Internet is responsible for decrease of social skills.

    Read More

  • How Google is Affecting Us

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    If only my local library could hold the vast quantity of information that my hand held smart phone does. Carr insinuates that Google (and the internet) is making us stupid. I say they are making us lazy. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr informatively states that with the advancement of technology, Google search engine, and the internet we are become more distracted—with all the different forms of flash media, the amount of hyper-links after hyper-link after hyper-links, and clickable adds-- in turn we are doing less critical reading by way of the internet as opposed to a printed book. Being able to glance over several articles in hour’s verses days looking through books; being able to jump from link to link in order to get the information you need, never looking at the same page twice has decrease out deep thinking and reading skills. Now days, all forms of reading, e.g. newspaper, magazine, etc. are small amount of reading to get the main idea of what’s going on and if you would like more information you will have to go to another page to do so. In the end, C...

    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

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Is Google Making USupid

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 creditable. 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.

    Read More

  • Is Google Making USupid

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    First Carr tells us about Friedrich Nietzsche, “His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful...The typewriter rescued him.” (Carr 318). Carr claims that the typewriter changed his writing style, but having a slightly different style does not take away from the fact that Nietzsche can still put his ideas onto paper. If Nietzsche had not bought the typewriter then he would not be able to write anymore, so clearly any small downside of the typewriter is outweighed by the the typewriter allowing Nietzsche to continue writing. Carr also claims at one point that the internet uses “a style that puts ‘efficiency’ and ‘immediacy’ above all else” (Carr 317). Carr argues that the efficiency and immediacy of the internet limits our ability for deep reading. Thompson claims that “Every new tool shapes the way we think, as well as what we think about” (Thompson 348). Every tool humans have ever created has shaped our brains, so we should not be scared that the internet is changing the way that we think. Especially considering it is causing us to think and learn more

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Nicholas Carr's 'Is Google Making USupid'

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever been reading online, and just cannot concentrate? If you have, you're not alone. American Author, Nicholas Carr was a Harvard graduate, who wrote "Is Google making us Stupid." This non-fiction news article informed us about how modern day technology affects our learning or reading. With all this information Carr, explains how google is making us stupid. Nicholas Carr uses Ethos, which is an appeal to authority and credibility. He uses Pathos, which is an appeal to your emotions. He also uses logos, an appeal to logic and reason. Nicholas Carr developed his thesis by including ethos, pathos, and logos.

    Read More

  • Influence Of Computer Technology

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr and “How Computers Change the Way We Think” by Sherry Turkle are two articles that explore how technology influences our daily lives. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” discusses the effects of the internet in our society, how it is robbing us of our deep thoughts, memories and our ability to read books. Carr also talks about how the internet has become our primary source of getting information. The writer also discusses about how he’s having difficulty focusing on reading. “How Computers Change the Way We Think” is talking about how people don’t use their brains full potential capacity to solve problems. Instead, we depend on technology to do that for us.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Better Than Humans: Why Robots For The Better

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Is Google Making Us Stupid?, by Nicholas Carr

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    The following essay will discuss how the ideas in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, is expressed in the futuristic novel Feed, by M.T Anderson.

    Read More

More about Is Technology a Hindrance to Human Development?

Open Document