Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

Relying on the Internet Nicholas Carr, author of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” considers the internet to be disconnecting, distracting, and deriving of our brains knowledge and memory. Technology has started to change the way we think, and although we don’t like to admit it, “the deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle” (Carr 1). Our brains now expect us to take in information the same way the internet is distributing it: fast and all at once. The internet is not only causing adults, but also children, to use their brains less and rely more on technology to think for them.

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, the author, Nicholas Carr, is arguing against the effect of our increased access to information. He is unsettled by the common idea that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence. Carr describes how am immediate access to a rich store of information from the Net has shaped his process of thought by reducing his capacity for concentration and contemplation. He is worried that placing efficiency and immediacy above all else is weakening our capacity to make rich mental connections that form when we read deeply without distraction. Carr uses an anecdote of the printing press to demonstrate how equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.

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 his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” (2008), Nicholas Carr argues that the use of the internet has affected human beings to process information. For example, reading in front of a screen and reading a printed book is not the same thing. Carr supports his assertion by his own and others experiences reading and searching information online and viewing how it has negatively shaped their ability to read long texts. He states that he cannot concentrate reading a long piece for a certain amount of time without losing focus. His purpose is to is to warn the internet and technology users of the adverse mental effects that these devices have on individuals.

Is technology changing our brains for the better or for the worse? The human brain is a biological masterpiece and is the most advanced organ on the face of the planet. In Richard Restak’s essay “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” he speaks about how the advancements in technology in this modern era have affected the brain’s habits and functions. Multitasking is requiring the brain to change how it functions, its organizations, and efficiency throughout day-to-day tasks and is also enabling people to do things otherwise not possible. Within the past two decades, the amount of time we spend on using technology has increased by a large amount.

Even though this makes an effective argument, Carr isn’t afraid to go above and beyond to prove his point. Carr gives credit where credit is due and he compares his argument to a proposal made by Socrates. Socrates is a well-known and respected philosopher so this adds even more credibility to his argument. Carr says,“ … Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.”

In his writing originally published in the Atlantic “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Nicholas Carr demonstrates that our increased internet usage is impeding our ability to concentrate and read deeply. Carr begins his writing by bringing in a reference from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey which highlights the contrast between a cold human and a computer who is able to feel its mind going. Similar to the computer, the author can feel a change in his mind because he is no longer able to read deeply; a skill that used to come easily to him. Another thing that has changed in the past few years is his internet usage.

In his essay Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr argues that our dependence on the Internet changes the way we read and think. He includes his own personal testimony to support this claim, as well as others’ descriptions, including several friends, and bloggers that Carr quote. While he lacks scientific proof supporting his claim, multiple testimonies support his claim that the internet has changed the way people think. However, Carr views this negatively, saying that “I’m not thinking the way I used to think… my concentration often starts to drift… I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text” (633-634).

At the beginning of the article, he opens up about his struggles with reading and how he thinks something is changing the way he processes his thought. When the Internet first came to be, Carr was pleased. He has noticed how technology may be changing everything. He goes on to explain how common day tasks are being done faster. In the next section he discusses a few credible studies that show our brains are thinking differently because of technology.

Nicholas Carr in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” claims that individual's ability to concentrate and critically analyze information is limited due to the profound impact of the Internet. Through the variety of studies, personal experiences and a number of related methods, Carr reveals aforementioned implications. The author argues that people's ability to concentrate truly decrease because of the Internet. To support his thinking, Carr provides the reader with own experiences and various studies.

Writing Project 2 – Writing with a Text Imagine travelling back in time to an age where books used to be a dream, and only the privileged had the access to knowledge. Now, fortunately, such a dream no longer exists. About two decades ago, us humans were introduced to the Worldwide Web. This was a major technological advancement because it was no longer just the wealthy that had access to the information, but rather, knowledge was at the fingertips of every single human being.

Writing received a lot of criticism, especially from Socrates, a Greek philosopher. According to Socrates writing was mnemonic and not interactive. Socrates claims “the ultimate effect of writing will be to weaken memory, not strengthen it” (842). According to Baron “we remember this because Plato wrote it down” (842). Socrates views are very disputable since he claims that writing will weaken the memory, yet we know about him because his student Plato wrote it down.

In this article, Joel Stein claims that millennials are more dependent of technology than past generations. He says, “From 1966, when Torrance Test of Creative Thinking were first administered… Creativity scores in children increased. Then dropped, falling sharply in 1988” (Stein 2). This shows how the brain activity of millennials has been decreasing through years.

In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr argues that Internet changes how we think and act. First, he provides a personal example on how he cannot focus on reading for more than a few pages because Google has made him more efficient in doing research by going online rather than grinding through long readings. Then, Carr presents another example on a blogger, Brue Friedman, who also admits that he lost his ability to read long text after search engine became popular. Furthermore, Carr expresses his idea by using an historical example. Friedrich Nietzsche, who bought a typewriter in the late 1800s, changed his style of writing once he got familiar with the typewriter.

The Influence of Technology In the essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that utilization of the internet has an adverse effect on our way of thinking and functioning in everyday life. Whether it be reading a newspaper, or scrolling through Facebook, internet media has forever stamped its name in our existence. Carr explains to us that the internet is a tool used every single day in today’s society, but also makes most of us complacent with the ease of having the world at our fingertips.