Argument Analysis of Brain, Interrupted, by Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson

In “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” Richard Restak considers the effect of technology on our brains. As we process increasing amounts of information at ever-faster speeds, Restak argues that our brains are undergoing “profound alterations” in order to adapt to the changing needs of our modern world. As technology connects us to more people, places, and information than ever before, Restak warns that we are losing important cognitive functions, in particular our ability to focus and concentrate. However Restak fails to mention that technology has created significant affordances as well. Allowing society to advance as a whole, via social media, e-mail, cell phones, and other various communications. Technology is reshaping our habits of mind.Yes technology created a slight defect to the mind but many advantages came about using technology as an asset.

In the excerpt from Richard Restak, he talked about how the plasticity of our brain is changing the way we do things toay. The human brain is changing everyday and there is no way anyone can stop it. Richard Restak, an expert on the brain, talks about how the plasticity of our brains is changing constantly. He believes that this change is negatively hindering our ability to focus and produce a single task. The rewiring of our brains is forcing us as humans to make many changes to our everyday lives, and the main change it is causing us is that in order to function we need to multitask. Multitasking is the new thing today; everyone wants to be able to do as many things as

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

Multitasking, helpful or harmful? In Alina Tugend’s “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus”, Tugend explores multitasking in several ways. Explaining how we as humans sacrifice focus “shifting focus from task to task gives illusion that we’re simultaneously tasking”. Also, how our brains react to operating and trying to do more than one task at once. Only one or two visual stimulants can activate our neurons at one particular time. Lastly, how we can recreate boundaries and cope with everyday life and multitasking. Tugend reiterates several times the importance of one task at a time so we as humans can effectively complete tasks to the best of our abilities instead of giving partial focus and not efficiently completely a task. Multitasking is very beneficial at times, but more often there are significant downfalls; it is crucial we learn how to manage the downfalls of juggling tasks, events, conversations, and daily events.

The Internet is something that some consider their lifesavers, while others believe that it takes their life away. The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr is a novel that explores the different areas of how new technologies affect humans in different ways, regarding multi-tasking and distractions, to how new technologies make us lose a little part of ourselves. Throughout the book Carr puts forward very strong arguments, but then loses creditability with his use of fallacies in argument.

Students may easily lose their attention and concentration with easy access to such incredibly rich store of information. With such new technologies as television, internet and social networks, people nowadays tend to multitask more often as they have easy access to large amount of information. However, such easy access may sometimes be a distraction. Study report “Your Brain on Computers” shows that heavy multitaskers perform up to 20% worse on most tests compared to performance of light multitaskers. Working efficiency of people, who multitask, are claimed to be significantly lower. The same is with concentration. As a result, they are not engaged in working process. Students tend to be easily distracted with this situation. For example, combining doing homework with operating on Twitter, phone or YouTube results in poor engagement of a student into deep thinking process, according to Winifred Gallagher, who is the author of Rapt. He also points out that nowadays high school and college students have decreased capacity of serious thinking because of multitasking and distraction. Moreover, Tyler Cowen, economist and famous blogger, claims that nowadays information tends to come in shorter and smaller portions and that explains why our generation encourages short reading. Since online information is always presented in short written passages, the web prevents user from concentration and contemplation. As an illustration, Nicholas Carr, the speaker at MIT and Harvard,

To start, Tugend and Carr connect their texts through their similar use of pathos which conveys the notion that technology is harmful to the human brain. In order for Tugend to illustrate the effect multitasking with technology can cause, Tugend describe the feeling of, “desperately trying to keep up with multitude of jobs, we feel a constant low level of panic and guilt” (717). Many people feel overwhelmed after being hit with multiple thoughts or when other people simultaneously talking to them. This type of reaction has a very similar effect on

On the other hand, Harvard experimental cognitive psychologist Dr. Pinker in his essay “Mind Over Mass Media” addresses the same issue, technology as a deterrent to concentration, but has a very different outlook. Although Dr. Pinker acknowledges that technology can be a distraction, he chooses to provide logical (albeit condescending) strategies to overcome the distractions rather than going into theatrics. Dr. Pinker states, “The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life. Turn off email or twitter when you work, put away your Blackberry at dinner time, ask your spouse to call you to bed at a designated hour” (Pinker par. 9). Essentially, Pinker asserts that if one takes simple preventative measures, there is no reason to believe technological distractions will hinder the mind.

“We are always in a perpetual state of being created and creating ourselves (Siegel, 221)”. The brain is a product of its ever-changing environment. As certain linkages between its regions are used more or less frequently, their relative strength fluctuates. Many times, cultural shifts, such as the current transition from a print culture to a digital culture, cause the largest effect on the connections within the brain. Because of the overabundance and simplicity of information on the internet, the brain is becoming more impatient and losing its ability to focus and interact at a deep level. As a result, humans must rely increasingly on the internet.

Media and technology are permeating and changing every part of our lives, but are there consequences to these changes? Nicholas Carr questions if the Internet is helping people as much as it is believed to in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” With an increased reliance on the Internet, Carr has found patterns of shortened attention in himself and among others. Carr points out frightening changes occurring in human behavior and the workings of the brain that have now become evident in our society’s younger generation and could have devastating consequences.

The internet is our conduit for accessing a wide variety of information. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr discusses how the use of the internet affects our thought process in being unable to focus on books or longer pieces of writing. The author feels that “someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain” over the past few years (Carr 731). While he was easily able to delve into books and longer articles, Carr noticed a change in his research techniques after starting to use the internet. He found that his “concentration often [started] to drift after two or three pages” and it was a struggle to go back to the text (Carr 732). His assertion is that the neural circuits in his brain have changed as a

Nicole Bloudoff (2013) states in her article, “Digital Technology: Help or Hindrance?”, “digital interruptions that occur simultaneously while performing a main job or task are especially able to disrupt the transfer from short-term into long-term memory” (p. 94). These digital messages constantly interrupt us throughout the course of our day with various alerts and notifications, with the intention of reminding us not to forget, but are these interruptions actually interfering with our memory regarding day-to-day information? Bloudoff conducted a study which examines the effects of digital interruptions on long-term memory. The experiment produced concerning results. Bloudoff first set up three separate test groups in computer labs, each consisting of a number of university students. The students are assigned a task to perform on the computers, and in the midst of their progress they were interrupted by digital messages (Bloudoff, 2013, p. 94). An observation of the first experiment showed that “memory accuracy was decreased after the students attended to an interrupting message” (Bloudoff, 2013, p. 96). The second experiment showed that “four interrupting messages were used, and the result was replicated” (Bloudoff, 2013, p. 98). In the third and final experiment, it was “discovered

The more the person multi-tasks the more easily distracted and ‘had less control over their attention’. This experiment was more comprehensive. To back up claims that the internet changes the way we think, Carr refers to an experiment done on primates in the 1970s and 1980s. The test seems extensive on how quickly our brains circuits responce can change based on our can experience. This doesn’t talk about how quickly the brain can therefore revert back when needed for more reflective activities such as when reading a book.

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

All three authors note the potential benefits of technology in terms of convenience and quality of life. However, when the big picture is considered and a mental laziness is acquired in consumers, distractions from important tasks including texting and driving, and