Everyday technology is becoming more preeminent in our society. We have created machines and gadgets that seemed like dreams even just one hundred years ago. Most of these inventions have no doubt benefited society. No one would deny the fact that the polio vaccine, which was discovered through countless research and technological devices, was a tremendous breakthrough in the medical field. Most everyone would also agree that the start of the automobile industry has improved society and has made communicating to others much easier. It may seem as if there are only advantages to technological breakthroughs like these, however not everything that has been created has improved society 100% of the time. Many discoveries have been debated …show more content…
In this piece he wrote about the many disadvantages that Google and the internet have made on the human race. He included some personal examples that he has had on the effects of the internet and its wide variety of information. Carr states in the second paragraph, “I’m not thinking that way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading.” and also “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” These real life examples Carr writes of show that he has experienced many of the downfalls of the internet. He was an extremely intellectual man who read quite frequently and now has trouble even reading two or three pages because of the internet. He admits to finding himself getting fidgety and bored when attempting to read a long piece of work because he is used to the quick, immediate information that the internet gives …show more content…
I do agree that one can read much more deeply when having a real, paper copy of a novel than a quick article on the internet. I agree that the internet can be dangerous when used too often or for long periods of time. I agree that computers and the internet can take a part out of the “true human experience” when one simply believes the first thing that they read on the internet without truly breaking it down and searching for truth and validity. However, I personally do not believe that the internet is hurting society in such a detrimental way that this article speaks of. Yes, it can be abused and relied on when it should not be, but the advantages to the internet are far greater than the disadvantages. The internet allows us to have an abundant amount of information and resources available to us when we look for answers. Instead of only one or two sources available in a library, we now have thousands of free avenues to find accurate information. We are able to find backup to the information searched for and reasons that prove its legitimacy. Of course not everything on the internet is correct so one must take the time to do the research to make sure what they are reading is true. The internet also allows us to connect with people all over the world. Whether for business purposes or personal connections, we can search
He knows that people use the internet as a fast way of gathering, instead of reading the information. Carr speak through his experience, as he is one of those people. He wrote the article as is first hand knowledge on the issues. Additional “The net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind (is google making us stupid? by Carr page 2)”. Carr shows the reader he use to be them, who rely on the internet before he became a writer for The Atlantic. He made the reader to trust his opinion in the matter and making him a credible source to
Carr’s message is that Google is not actually making people stupid. It is just making people forget the traditional sense of reading. He expresses that this is a cause for the lack of attention today’s world compared to the time when there were no computers, internet, or Google. I disagree with this argument. If an individual has the propensity to skim over information by nature, than that individual will always be searching for means to gather
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
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.
Carr concludes his excerpt with the statement “I missed my old brain,” because he was once so active in his learning, but now with exposure to the internet he has become close to being the contrary. Successfully, does Carr create a stance on how the internet has had a negative impact on how a person thinks and learns, from trading away an “old linear thought process” in return “for the riches of the Net.” Also, Carr creates a point that if society continues in this new form of mind, everyone will become human HALs and turn rogue against
The article by Nicholas Carr Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr main argument is as the Internet has become an integral part of our society is changing the way we process information to a simply way of processing information. My interpretation of Carr main argument is that the Internet has made it harder to process complex information and now rendering to process information in a simply manor. The reason he accomplished expressing his argument in a effective manor was his use appeal to Karos, Ethos & Logos; also, with the aid of rhetorical devices.
One for example is when he talks about how he used to be deeply immersed in readings and now after two or three pages he says “I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” (Carr, 1). Most people would look at the statement and agree. With social media prevalent in society today and with the length of articles getting shorter and advertisements constantly popping up it’s hard to stay focus on just one story. People only scratch the surface when they read now instead of diving deeper into the story. Carr argues that people’s attention spans have gotten shorter over time. But, it’s not only reading stories on the internet, it’s how we’re connected to our electronic devices. A perfect example is we’re always within arm’s reach our phones, ipads, laptops, etc. which can make people lose focus. When’s the last time you looked at your phone to look at a text or check Facebook? Was it 5 minutes ago or even 2 minutes ago? The things we can do with our phones is so technically advanced and Carr believes it’s taking over our minds in a negative way. This generation of children and young adults today are connected to the web constantly. An answer for something is always a click away, which can be a good thing and a bad
Trying to reflect the fears instilled in himself through comparison to an unrealistic movie. I believe that the internet hasn’t changed everyone’s the way the he says its changed his. I think that people who were born into the world of technology have the ability to analyze into a deeper thought what is needed and skim for instant answer when it’s not needed. On the other side those whom have been forced to adapt to it, such as Carr, find themselves losing abilities they once relied on because they were taught growing up to do both things. Now that the internet has forced them to adapt to it, they can’t focus of doing both types of thinking. The complexity of our minds is deep and that can’t be made shallow by the ability to get instant gratification of information. We simply begin to rule out unimportant things, once the important thing is found then it can be analyzed. Although Carr says his mind isn’t going as far as it used to, clearly that’s exactly what he did in this essay. He used the older “traditional way” of over-analyzing unnecessary things to reach a point that ends up being moot. Clearly, his use of logos, ethos and pathos, although present were not enough to prove his opinion to be
Like Gladwell, Nicholas Carr believes the internet has negative effects. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Carr attempts to show as the internet becomes our primary source of information, it diminishes the ability to read books and extensive research. Carr goes on to give a very well researched account of how text on the internet is designed make browsing fast and profitable. He describes how the design for skimming affects our thinking skills and attention spans. He wraps up his argument by describing what we are losing in the shift toward using the internet as our main information source. Carr suggests the learning process that occurs in extensive research and through reading is lost. While the learning process can be beneficial to scholars and intellectuals, not everyone has the capability to follow through with it. The internet offers an education that anyone can have access to and understand. Also if Carr believes the learning process is better, this option is always available for people who want to learn according to this scholarly principal. However, for the rest of the population the quick and easy access has allowed the average population to become more educated, and to expose themselves to aspects of academia that previously is reserved for
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.
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
In Carr’s essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he makes his statement clear that he is against modern day technology and how much we rely on it in the present day. If there was one rhetorical appeal to choose that Carr favored, it would be pathos. Carr loved to use many other sources to credit so he could have sources to back him up. For example, he would claim he had a difficulty reading quoted many of his colleagues that were his age and had the same similar experiences. In his opinion, he believes that the internet is the cause of his ability to read as well as he could before be due to the internet and reading more online than a physical copy. For example, Scott Karp, a blogger, wrote, “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much
The internet damages us, people have lost their ability to read full articles and don’t fully understand what they read and because of this,our natural intelligence will never be the same with the internet around, thinking for us.
In today's world, technology is constantly changing from a new paperclip to an improvement in hospital machinery. Technology lets people improve the way they live so that they can preserve their own personal energy and focus on the really important factors in life. Some people focus their energy on making new innovations to improve transportation and the health of people that may save lives and some people focus on making new designs of packaging CDS. Technology is significant in everyone's life because it rapidly changes what is in the market. But, some new innovations of technology are ridiculous because they serve no purpose in helping mankind.
“ Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated” (Aristotle). In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicholas Carr presents a compelling argument in which he supports with Aristotle’s three styles for effective argumentation (logos, pathos, and ethos). Nicholas Carr appeals to the reader’s logic and reasoning, the reader’s emotion, and builds credibility within his essay. He exercises several effective writing strategies to strengthen his argument in the essay.