In the present day, the development of internet causes considerable changes in social relations and people lifestyle. Internet users spend most of their life online. One of the recent trends is the development of social networks, which encourage the creation of realistic communities. In such a situation, the question concerning the impact of Internet on human being, especially on human brain and behavior arises. In this concern, views on the impact of Internet vary consistently. On the one hand, Internet is recognized as a valuable intermediate, which helps users to share and broadcast information easily. But, another view on the impact of internet, that Internet is noticed as a threat to the social life and identity of individuals because it engages users changing their life online and leaving less time for real world social relations. In real life, it is obvious that Internet does have the impact on the way users think but this impact can hardly be discovered in a day, but, in its place, it is a long lasting process which may have negative effects because of the information overload and negative behavioral changes, such as distraction, the lack of ability to concentrate on one issue and others.
The negative impact of Internet on behavioral changes in users
In fact, internet has a considerable impact on the behavior of individuals and their way of thinking. Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say human ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information (Richtel, 2010). In fact, internet can cause the information overload in users because they have access to the huge amount of information which human brain seem to be hardly able to p...
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...t and telecommunication systems along with mass media, people will hardly be ever refuse from internet, unless a new, more progressive technology emerges. At the moment, the impact of Internet on human brains and the way of thinking is obvious and almost irrevocable but the impact can apparent its effects in a long-run perspective.
Works Cited
Carr, N. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic, 2008. Retrieved on December 1, 2013 from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/
Carr, N. What’s the Internet Doing to Our Brains?, 2010. Retrieved on December 1, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9-Ec7z4fFw
Richtel, M. “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price,” New York Times, 2010. Retrieved on December 1, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
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.
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
Millions out of the population world wide, has let the internet dominate over them in abrogating forms. The internet can be useful in several ways, such as academic, researching, gaining more knowledge out of a topic, a person has found interesting. On the other hand, it can also be used in negative ways, by drowning the person to surf the web more than 3 hours. Not acknowledging the situation that can lead them too. Such as excluding them, from the outside world. Several may discover the beauty of the internet, as others are pulled aside into the dark route, by themselves. William Gibson, author of the article, “The Net Is a Waste of Time” demonstrates the differences on how technology has involved more than a decade, and the influences being
Using technology can have certain effects on the brain. Nicholas Carr’s magazine blog, “The Web Shatters Focus, Rewrites Brains,” tells us an experiment from a ULCA professor, Gary Small. Gary Small
The Internet is a big provider of media, we respond to it not only physically but mentally too. In an article written by Nicholas Carr "Is Google making us Stupid" it explains how the Internet has an influence on us. When we are on the Internet we have the ability to look at anything which is good but it can also have a bad response. The Internet gives us the ability to hop from site to site or "power browse" (Carr 2 and 3), it makes us lose focus on what we were doing in the first place. Carr says in his article "the Net seems to be chipping away my capacity
It is a well-known fact that the Internet has become a central part of society, and it has completely changed every aspect of life for the human race, whether it is for better or worse. Nicholas Carr explains his thoughts on how the Internet has changed how people think in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He believes that the human race is losing its ability to think deeply and is creating a distraction culture, and that companies like Google are working to increase this way of thinking. However, the issue of how the human brain is changing with the Internet is very complex, and the answer to this question goes beyond a simple yes or no.
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.
In his 2008 article Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr, a writer of books, essays and ephemera, claims that the Internet might have negative effects on cognition which could potentially taper our capacity for concentration and contemplation, therefore make us incapable of holding a long attention span. Carr uses vivid imagery, personal examples and voices the views of fellow bloggers who also agree that our way of thinking and ability to concentrate has been altered. His purpose is to address the issue that the simple use of “.com” has transformed our critical thinking patterns and our naturally functioning mind. Carr’s arguments are more indirectly pointed towards the younger generations who have become more reliant of the Internet, however, he addresses the fact that the web is running the risk of making anyone who has access to it full of artificial knowledge. Since Carr’s arguments explicitly rest not only on the views of fellow bloggers but his own opinion as well, his argument is not as persuasive due to the simple fact that he is unable to support his claim with concrete factual data. Nicholas Carr sees the Internet as a loss and not as a gain. His own criticism is more artificial but he seems to miss the humanizing effects of the web and targets the degenerative effects instead.
In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he argues views other people might not have thought of. He claims that the internet has affected how people process information. He begins to explain this point using a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey where HAL, a supercomputer, is being disassembled by the man the machine almost killed. Carr emphasizes the fact that the computer could feel it’s’ brain being taken away as the man stripped its memory circuits.
This essay is very convincing to how Google and the Internet in general are changing the framework of our minds. He states that, “My mind isn’t going- so far as I can tell- but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think.” (370) Carr continues to go on about how it’s harder for him to concentrate when reading, catching himself wondering only after a few pages. The web has become a “universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind.” Marshall McLuhan stated, “Media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.” Throughout Carr’s essay you will read many different stories, and research projects stating that they notice a change within their minds. That there framework is changing for the worse. I can relate to Carr’s experience with reading. I once was able to read without any worries, continuing from page to page without anything stopping me. Now I have to concentrate harder, focusing and reading each page more carefully because my concentration and contemplation is becoming weaker.
Carr, Nicolas (2008 Jul-Aug). The Atlantic Magazine. Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/
These two articles are similar in the sense that they agree that the internet and computational objects are reshaping our brain’s structure by changing our neural circuit. By using examples from their personal experiences to identify a trend in technology use, the authors illustrate that the more we bury ourselves in technology the more we are unable to understand material which leads to loss of concentration and the ability to think for ourselves. As an author, Carr finds the internet a beneficial tool, but it’s having a bad effect on his concentration span. Carr points this out by stating “Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy, now I get fidgety, lose the thread and begin looking for something else to do” (39). He is no
In an era where all of the world’s information is readily available at our fingertips, it is difficult to imagine what life was like before the Internet. Today. people get anxiety attacks at the thought of a slow wireless connection. God forbid a webpage takes five minutes to load; we are left with rage and disappointment. Is the Internet making people stupid? Despite the fact that research on the detrimental effects of the Internet is still young, there is no doubt that the Internet is changing the way one thinks, but it is not necessarily making one “dumber.” What it is doing, however, is bringing to light some bad habits that are affecting the way we process information. The Internet is making us lazy and unable to memorize information.
A useful thing about internet is the electronic mail, as it gives us faster results than its regular and normal air mail. Internet gives information in any aspects of knowledge which is useful for student and for the business. Internet changes our life (and where sure to that). It gives us a lot of knowledge, advantages and disadvantage of course and we should be aware to that by using it and knowing what are those disadvantages. Though it gives a lot of advantages to us we should always look on the other side of it, for the reason of the social development growth especially to children. (Sonia79, 2005)
Johnson, William D. "Internet and Modern Society." Dept. of Medicine. 24 Jan. 2006. University of Wyoming. 2 June 2008 .