Google and Human Brain Essay

In “Is Google Making us stupid”, Carr explains how the brain is malleable and how the internet might be shaping it by literally rewiring the brains network. Carr gives a brief example of how neurons can be made and broke depending on what things shape the way things are done. By being used to instant searching and internet preferences, the brain reprograms itself in being used that certain way. He thinks by using the internet so much, we will become more and more objective and quick thinkers, and ultimately emotionless computers. He also gives examples of how the clock and typewriter changed our way of thinking in the past. Adapting this way will rewire thought processes and continue to dictate how we act. Carr’s theory may be more obvious as we continue to be reliant on technology. (Carr)

According to Nicholas Carr, the internet has had an effect on how we read, think and live. He provides examples of this throughout his essay. In one of his statements he says “the net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information [we receive]” (732) He gathers this information from other colleagues and friends he knows. People can access the internet and in a few clicks to have all the information they need and more. We are no longer limited by local sources to gather our data. At the speed of light, the voices of millions can be heard by all. It is the quick access and our human desire for knowledge that feeds the need for the internet. It has damaged our level of patience and causing our minds to wander. “And what

In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr expresses his beliefs and personal experiences on how the internet has altered our brains and how we think. He addresses the fact that, although our brains’ abilities to deep read and concentrate are suffering, the internet is extremely beneficial and convenient. Because of the easy accessibility, it takes little to no effort to find information, and therefore, a minimal amount of thinking is required. Carr highlights that people are more impatient because of the internet and that our minds are becoming more erratic. The author used research, conducted by a U.K. educational consortium, to show that a new form of reading is developing over time; rather than reading every word on a page, it has turned to more of a skimming method. Nicholas Carr realizes that we may be doing more reading than ever due to the internet, but it is different in the way that people have to interpret the text. Reading, unlike talking, is not a natural ability. One must learn to deep read, make connections, and translate the underlying meaning. Overall, Carr believes it is a mistake to rely fully on computers because in the end, it will just be our own intelligence that morphs into artificial intelligence.

I must admit that I have Google set as my homepage and before actually thinking how much I know about a particular topic, I automatically “google” the topic. I realized how much it has affected my cognitive ability and overall concentration. Our brain is constantly making new connections, therefore taking on qualities of the technology around us. The way humans explain themselves to others is changing because of the way we are unconsciously adapting to “intellectual technologies.” This means that we are allowing the information we read on the internet to alter the way we view not only ourselves, but the world around us as well.

Nicholas Carr, in his article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," questions whether or not Google is benefitting society or destroying the ability of people to concentrate and think for themselves. In this day and age, Google is a lifeline, and it can be argued that without it, society would fall apart. Carr gives Google adequate credit for its positive benefits and revolutionary developments in the recent years, but he also points out how it may also be detrimental to this generation and future generations to come.

Google is something that made people’s life easier. It’s the search engine that delivers useful information about anything. Most of the time people will google to find information that they need without even figuring it out by themselves first. Internet is affecting us in a negative without us even noticing. Now days’ technology is so advanced that we have access to internet everywhere like cellphones, laptops, and computers. Google is changing the way we process information it’s changing the way we think. Technology is effecting our mental abilities and we don’t put much effort in our researches, which is convincing the danger of the technology and internet.

To begin, the internet is altering the human ability to concentrate for long periods of time. There are many distractions on the internet. Even if people are looking for something as small as a definition on the internet, all of the hyperlinks and ads can make people stray away from finding it. Many people begin to get fidgety and lose concentration after only a couple of pages. Nicholas Carr struggles with keeping his concentration by stating in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” that “ I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do” (Carr 731). A person could be checking the score of a football game when all of the sudden an email message appears and totally diffuses that persons attention away from the score of the game. Also, the human brain is beginning to adapt to receiving information quickly. Research that took days of searching through multiple books can now be done in only a few

To start, I use Google pretty regularly as anyone would if they have access to technology like in today’s society. I personally use Google whenever I need an address for a certain store or a phone number for said store. No one uses phonebooks anymore, when I can just easily type the name in the browser and have accurate results show up in seconds. I also use Google for directions or news updates. Google is extremely helpful because most people live their lives through their phones and Google is right there when you have literally any question and it will be answered in just a few seconds. Other benefits from Google are that the most relevant sites are shown when you look something up. This is very important because if you are looking something up and something else totally irrelevant comes up it is very confusing. Not only that but, Google is ad-free and for someone who is on the Web a lot, ads are extremely annoying and a waste of time. Finally, Google has about one trillion sites indexed as well which is pretty amazing.

Technology has drastically changed everyday life. Author Daniel M. Wegner and Adrian F. Ward discuss the effects of technology on memory in their article “How Google Is Changing Your Brain.” Wegner and Ward explore the tendency to distribute the gathering of information among colleagues and close friends. They classify this ability as the “transactive memory system.” However, Wegner and Ward argue that with the invention of the Internet, many are essentially replacing these human memory partners with technology. This, in turn, has a significant effect on the way one processes and retrieves information. Through Wegner and Ward’s use of logos, ethos, and pathos, they effectively validate their argument.

Due to the increased competition from Yahoo and Microsoft, it has posed a great threat to Google Company. Entry of such like companies in the market has been relatively easy and even offering similar services to the consumers is no longer a problem as unlike a while back, technology has greatly improved. With an improvement in technology, creating sites that help people access information from the internet has been quite cheap and all it calls for is the creativity of a company. Google, however, has been able to remain at the top of the chart. They have been able to come up with a user-friendly search engine for their clients, one that is easy to understand as well as easy to use. Also, Google has been able to cut on cost as they are able to create web pages using UNIX web servers which are relatively cheap. This makes it possible for them to minimize the cost of input and hence maximizing their profit margins. This makes it possible for them to hire qualified personnel, offer quality services, advertise their products, and even offer promotions, helping them overcome the competition in the market structure.

In the July-August 2008 Atlantic magazine, Nicholas Carr published "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google). In this article Nicolas Carr argues that the internet is changing how one thinks, and how it is causing a bad effect on one’s brain. I have to disagree. Although the internet is constantly changing, it helps in a positive way. Firstly, google has become a great resource for educational purposes. Secondly, the internet has become a great resource for intercultural experiences. Due to the general population spending most of their time on computer’s and smart phones, this information is accessible to us whenever needed.

Google is a company that was conceptualized in a dorm room by two Stanford University college students in 1996 (Arnold, 2005, p. 1) and has morphed into one of the greatest technological powerhouses in operation today. What began as merely a means to analyze and categorize Web sites according to their relevance has developed into a vast library of widely utilized resources, including email servicing, calendaring, instant messaging and photo editing, just to reference a few. Recent statistics collected by SearchEngineWatch.com reflects that of the 10 billion searches performed within the United States during the month of February, 2008, an impressive 5.9 billion of them were executed by Google (Burns, 2008). Rated as Fortune Magazine’s

People are adapting, and changing their approach of how they seek knowledge: From hours, and hours of researching in the library to find information, to a five-second research on the internet with a click of a button? In an ever-changing world, humans are evolving with the ease of technology. The google search engine allows the users to search anything with the tip of their fingers. The World Wide Web has billions of website with information. People can search anything they want to know about. The innovation of the Google search engine surpassed its competitors because of its sophisticated algorithm. Is the Google search engine changing the way we think? Some people believe Google is making people stupid because

Google is the most successful information technology and web search company in the world. It was founded in 1998 by two Stanford Ph.D. students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The company name, Google, is a play on the word “googol” which is a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. Larry Page and Sergey Brin chose this name to reflect the large amount of information on the web. The two created this search engine so that people can find anything on the web all in one place. The company’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Now, the company is far more than a search engine website, it has grown to be a substantial collection of products and services that are

In 1998, Stanford University graduates Larry Page and Sergey Brin combined their ingenuity and built a search engine called “BackRub” that evolved into what is now known as Google. Google, with over 150 domains, now functions as a search engine that offers many different products and services including web applications, advertising, sports scores, stock quotes, headlines, addresses, videos, etc. Google’s focus is “to provide useful and relevant information to the millions of people around the world as they rely on us (Google) to provide the answers they are seeking.”