Analysis Of The Article 'Addicted To Distraction' By Tony Schwartz

On the other hand, Steven Pinker’s article strongly disagrees at the fact that the internet affects the human brain. His defensive points primarily explain how without the internet a lot of today discoveries and new inventions wouldn’t be possible. Also he defends the fact that distraction or addiction is not a new phenomenon. Regardless of whether the internet is a popular utility or not, distraction would still be an occurring issue. It is quoted: “If electronic media were hazardous to intelligence, the quality of science would be plummeting.” Also, “Yes the constant arrival of information packets can be distracting or addictive, especially to people with attention deficit disorder. But distraction is not a new phenomenon. The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control as we do with every other temptation in life.” Steven Pinker is trying to get the reader to understand that the internet doesn’t essentially make you dumber but it does hinge at one’s attention span. Outside of the internet distractions are common everywhere. One can become distracted by their job, parents, work, internet, ect. Because of these interruptions Steven Pinker’s makes it known that all distractions require self-control. If one doesn’t have self control over an issue they will

Tony Schwartz wrote an article called “ Addicted to Distraction” on November 28, 2016 to inform the readers about how the internet is a distraction and how distractions can affect your life. One of the main points in this article is that people use the internet for non important things. Another point is stated in paragraph 14, “ The problem is that we humans have a very limited reservoir of will and discipline.” Through out the article, Shwartz did not only write the article to only talk about his own addiction, he also wrote it to where the readers can relate to it and to compare it to their very own distraction.

The article titled “Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”, Nicholas Carr informs the readers that people tend to be constantly distracted and interrupted when they are online. This can cause people to turn into scattered and superficial thinkers. Firstly, the article mentions that people’s thought, people’s emotion, and people’s personalities influence their ability to maintain concentration. The Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist, Eric Kandel said that people can understand a new piece of information thoroughly only when they pay much attention to it. Secondly, it says that constant distraction from the Internet causes people’s brain to not function efficiently. The brains are not able to forge the expansive neural connection that give depth

Americans’ over-dependence on the internet is causing more harm than good. Technological advancement, coupled with our easy access to virtual life through computers, cell phones, iPods among others has introduced us into a new era of extreme livelihood and lifestyle; we have gradually expanded internet use to do most of our walking and thinking for us. This growing trend in internet obsession if left unchanged will forever affect our emotional, physical and social wellbeing.

We often encounter distractions all around in our daily lives. Our attention is divided between different tasks, which make it difficult to focus. The internet plays an important role in distracting individuals to focus the mind and sustain concentration. According to Nicholas Carr, “When we 're constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be online, our brains are unable to forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give depth and distinctiveness to our thinking.”(Carr 224). The internet plays an important role in why it is difficult for individuals to focus the mind and sustain concentration. The internet has many distractions that can often lead us to multitasks and not fully focus on one task. For example, I have seemed students in class using their laptops not for education purposes but searching

Using the internet for so long has made us addicted, and we constantly rely on it. If you are doing a simple task, such as reading a book, it is a lot harder to concentrate because of the distraction that comes with the Net. Carr’s take on this is

A few years ago if you would ask someone what the internet or as that matter what a computer was they’d either say that they don 't know or give a hazy account of it being something that people in the technology industry use. However, today you look to the left or to the right and there are swarms of people holding on to their smart phones or to their computers. Surfing the Internet has become a pastime as social and marketable as going to the movies. It has almost sort of become an “addiction”. There’s something different, and more complex, about Internet addiction as compared to any other addiction such as drugs. Unlike drug addiction it’s more difficult to pin down a computable, damaging effect of Internet use. However when compared with drug addiction, in Internet addiction you do not necessarily know the cause and what you might lose at the end. The World Wide Web has therefore started a revolution.

The internet is said to damage our brains because it doesn’t allow us to focus completely, but it is actually a major advantage we all have. Nicholas Carr, in What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, states, “Their heavy use has neurological consequences.” by this he means

Karl Marx believed that technology was the driving force of society. Whether one agrees with this theory or not, this day and age is largely dependent on new technologies. At the base of today’s technology is the internet. With the creation of smart phones, laptops, and social media outlets, internet addiction is a term now being applied to those with problematic behaviors surrounding the excessive use of the internet. However, it is important to note that no standard diagnostic criteria or formal diagnoses are currently recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) for internet addictions. This paper aims to explore the physiological and psychological effects of the internet on individuals; especially when it is used in excess. Potential treatment options are also discussed.

When people talk about addiction most minds go to opiates, cocaine, gambling, or possibly even sex. What people often don’t think of is internet addiction. There are several different ways to be addicted to the internet, by way of social media such as Facebook or Instagram, pornography, online gaming, online shopping, and even texting. The availability of the internet has changed over the years, from only being accessible on computers plugged into walls with slow dial up connection, to now smartphones with quick internet speeds that are carried around in our hands, purses, or pockets everywhere we go. Having this accessibility makes it easy for people to spend countless hours surfing the internet, texting, making purchases, or scrolling through social media. But doing this may be doing more harm than good. Being addicted to the internet may be causing issues in people’s everyday relationships, work, mental health, and even daily tasks.

The results of the study done by Buchanan, J., O’Mara, J., Pistner, M., Young, K. were as follows; first, boredom was one of the factors identified by participant as being a major cause in dealing with their use of the internet.Secondly, symptoms of internet addiction found in this study were being engrossed with the internet, anxiety when not using internet, lying and covering up internet use, negative impacts on real-life functioning. The overuse of the internet can lead to depression or increased depression, social isolation, loss of job, financial debt, divorce, underachievement in school, and tension in relationship with family.

Although many people believe that the internet is making people smarter, better workers, and more focused, is a major misconception. Nicholas Carr, a writer about technology and culture, proves this wrong in his book The Shallows. Where he explains the negative effects of the internet, and how it is changing the way people think and process information. He explains this information by interviewing people who study in neuroscience, and by getting the opinion of other people such as bloggers who blog about technology and how it is affecting them. The internet is making people dumber, less focused, and rerouting people’s brains to think in another way.

Before, the internet made our lives more convenient, but now we have developed a potentially dangerous dependence for it. Years ago, before the internet, humans went about their daily life just fine. In just the half century since its inception, almost half of the world's population uses the internet. Since I began using the internet for my classes I have seen it as a great asset. However, one day when my internet failed to connect, I found out just how much I needed it for my classes. After several attempts to fix it, calling our family's internet

Most individuals are unaware of the effects this easy internet access is having on them. Often more time is spent on the mobile devices than initially planned because when people finally part with their phones they experience depression and withdraws; habitual use of technology can lead to addiction (Rosen). Addiction commonly is defined as the condition of being addicted to a substance, thing, or activity. Rosen explains, “An "addict" must overuse the Internet, the cell phone, or other technological devices to be considered abnormal,” and can result in sleep loss, forming bad habits, and potentially skipping face-to-face social activities.

Addiction, defined by Webster dictionary as “a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as a drug) or do something (such as gamble)”. Everyone has one, we’re all guilty of being addicted. Certainly, as this world changes and evolves, we as people change and evolve with it. We invent, create, and mold materials to change this world for the better. Though sometimes, we can often become dependent on our own inventions to a point that it becomes unhealthy, afflicting, and seriously addictive. One of these innovations includes that of the internet. It’s a wonderful source of information, used to connect the world in ways we never thought possible. Even still, are we as a people missing the darker sides that