Reading is harder, focusing is difficult, books are a thing of the past. In an intriguing article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicolas Carr explains how the internet is affecting people’s cognitive ability to function. Since the creation of the internet, information has become more readily available, but at the cost of the human brains cognitive ability.
Carr states that artificial technologies have an effect on the brains cognitive ability because its causing us to change our habits for the artificial technology. He writes about Friedrich Nietzsche a writer “[who’s] vision was failing, [who couldn’t keep] his eyes focused on a page [without it] becom[ing] exhausting and painful” (Carr 3). “Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter – a Malling-Hansen
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He states how his own memory is being affected by the internet jumping from one page to the next. He says his reading habits that used to be natural for him have become struggles. Studies performed at the University College London suggest that people exhibit “a form of skimming activity” and “. . . read no more than one or two pages of an article or a book before they would bounce out to another site” (Carr 2). “We are not only what we read” . . . “We are how we read” (qtd. in Carr 2). The internet promotes a style of reading “that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else” (Carr 2) Maryanne Wolf stated that “when we read online . . . we tend to become “mere decoders of information”” (Carr 2). Reading is not natural for humans we turn the symbols into something we understand. “And the media [and] or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading [starts to shape] neural circuits inside our brains” (3). These circuits that are created by the internet is different than the circuits that were created from books and written …show more content…
Carr uses himself as an example because “[he] starts to drift after two or three pages” (Carr 1). Even being a writer his mind struggles to keep focused on a book, or something that is new to him. He also uses his friends as examples, stating that “many are having similar experiences” (Carr 2). A blogger Scott Karp, recently said how he has stopped reading altogether. Another blogger Bruce Friedman, said “[he has] almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print” (qtd. in Carr
Summary One Nicholas Carr in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” states that the internet is causing deficiencies in reading and has caused people to have brief attention spans while reading a book. Carr immediately goes into explanation on how he can no longer sit to read without becoming “fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.” Carr then uses the rhetorical device of ethos by using creditable sources to back his claim. He uses a claim from scholars at University College London that stated, “It is clear that users are not reading online in traditional sense,” therefore stating people are skimming and scanning for information.
In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the author suggests that modern technology is changing the way him and other people think. He argues that, in the past, it was much easier to engage in long readings. Now, he claims, reading is more challenging and people are more likely to skim a passage rather than fully absorb the information due to excessive use of the internet (313-314). Carr uses Friedrich Nietzsche’s relationship with his typewriter as an example to express that with every new technology, he warns, the human mind is vulnerable to a change in structure (319). Carr observes and suggests that the more people use and rely on computers, the more the human mind essentially becomes a form of artificial intelligence
In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008), the Pulitzer Prize finalist claims that the evolving age of technology, particularly the Internet, is damaging our cognitive attention. Carr initially presents his argument through a series of anecdotes that make the topic more understandable; thereafter, he backs up his main points with numerous different types of supportive evidence. Relatable stories of how the technologic advancements are causing a neural retrogression amongst the general population are provided in order to show what the Internet is really doing to our minds and hopefully inform us about the dangerous path we are on. Carr’s use of both academic and casual language entertains the audience with a complex and
Nicholas Carr’s essay, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?” on the other hand is a very different approach to language, more specifically about the language used in relation to technology. Carr begins this essay with a personal observation that he is losing his ability to read for long periods of time. He claims that the internet is to blame for deterioration of attention people now experience when reading. This is because people are developing a new way of reading in which Freidman refers to as “skimming”(Carr) that allowing them to hastily read things without actually taking in the semantic meaning.
The article by Nicholas Carr: “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is Doing to our brains” (2008), explains the effect that the internet has on the way people go on about their daily lives and how it influences their habits and thoughts. He uses easy and not-strictly academic words along his article to argue that people’s concentration skills have reduced because of their high use of the internet to find information. He does so with the use of literary elements such as diction, tone and poetic devices. Therefore, by using these strategies, Carr creates a homespun persona with which he transcends his message to approach his readers.
Nicholas Carr in his essay, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, gives a serious warming to the negative impact to people’s brains which is caused by the overmuch using of the Internet. First of all, Carr states the common phenomenon in using the Internet to be a resource which regards almost any information. In addition, Carr expresses that the convenience in using the Internet is destroying our independence in reading, writing and working and make us be accustomed to do any things relying on the Internet. On the other hands, Carr claims that the Internet is become the new largest distraction in our lives. The overload information is fulfill our lives and discourage us to pay attention to the actually objects of our work.
People are not reading they are skimming through the Internet. Although people are reading more today on the Internet, it is not a deep reading as if they were to read a book. Another negative effect the Internet has had on our society is by increasing
Technological advancements are capable of filling people with hope but fear as well. Nicholas Carr has written an intriguing article titled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” which discusses how technology is changing the way we as humans think. Carr believes that technology is changing us negatively by shortening our attention span and preventing in depth thought and study. Through his article, Carr effectively demonstrates the manner in which technology is negatively impacting the way we think. One effective point Carr uses in his argument is fueled by historical evidence.
Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in 2008 to the Atlantic magazine brings forth the argument of how modern technology, like in the past, has affected us into changing the way we think, and go about taking in information. Throughout the article he supports arguments with personal accounts of colleagues as well as past accounts in advancements in technology that shaped modern day. Carr’s article begins with dialogue from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in which he relates with the supercomputer HAL as it loses its mind when Bowman disconnects its memory circuits. Carr like many of us today states that when reading he now finds himself distracted, unable to concentrate and make connections with the text.
Nicholas Carr endorses the argument that the human mind’s attention span is shortened due to the convenience and swiftness of Google and the Internet itself in his article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? Carr effectively utilizes the works of others as well as anecdotes to provide evidence of how Google and the Internet itself hastens and oversimplifies the learning process for the human brain. Carr introduces his article with a pop cultural analogy using Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in an attempt to engross his audience. Carr discerns his adaptation to the quickness of the internet and proceeds to realize his concentration is diminishing.
Next, he cites the ideas of Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at tufts university and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Wolf speaks of a phenomenon known as “We are how we read.” Wolf is concerned that the web puts both “Efficiency and Immediacy” above anything else. It all plays directly into the idea that humans want things to be easy, we want to get to the main idea of an article quickly so we can move on to something else. This mentality is human nature, but she argues that it, “ May be weakening our capacity.”
After reading the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, our group came to a decision that we agreed with Carr. Google is, in fact, making us stupid. Throughout the article, Carr emphasizes how our minds are changing as a result of the time we spend online. Throughout the article, Carr makes the argument that the internet has affected how human beings process and retain information. The problem with the internet that Carr addresses are that media does not just supply information to the users, it also shapes the thoughts that flow in the people's minds.
Nicolas Carr, an acclaimed writer in both business and technology, argues in “"Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in 2008, that the internet is altering the way humans focus. In his article, Carr states “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages” (Carr). Using first person personal experience this permits readers to presuppose that everyone is justly and effortlessly exposed to the impacts of the internet. Additionally accrediting himself, a prosperous and educated writer, Carr adds reliability and support towards his argument demonstrating that a literate, knowledgeable man can be susceptible to the effects of the internet. Scientific studies have been done which support the theory that the internet is deteriorating
With a world full of technology, have humans become just walking vegetables? The symbolism is not referring to garden vegetables, but rather to the term referring to patients who are brain dead. Since the creation of the Internet, we have been able to access virtually any information at our fingertips, but at what cost? An article written by Nicholas Carr titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid” recognizes just that. Carr argues that humans have limited their ability in certain ways because of our complete and total access to everything that is on the internet.
Nowadays, the internet is the biggest marketing and media tool that people can use today. It can have various effects on people’s daily life ranging from bad to beneficial. In the essay “Is Google making us stupid” by Nicholas Carr writes about how internet usage in the 21st century is changing people’s reading habit and a cognitive concentration. Particularly, he emphasizes on Google’s role in this matter and its consequences on making people machine like. Carr also stated that the online reading largely contributes to people’s way of reading a book.