Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Nicholas Carr in the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” argues that the more people use technology, the more it’s making people stupid. Throughout the article he mentions many examples where he proves himself correct. Google is making us stupid because it’s affecting our concentration the more we rely on technology.

Nicholas Carr is an American author who writes the majority of books and articles about the continuously evolving world of technology and how it is effecting our society. Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, was a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist and a New York Times bestseller. In this essay I will be rhetorically analyzing Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid” published in 2008. The purpose of Carr’s essay was to bring light to an issue that many of us face but only a meniscal few have come to terms with; and that is that technology is mentally incapacitating our society and simultaneously making us lazy. This essay was intended for anyone was has been consumed in today’s culture by new technological advances to the extent of not being able to function without some sort of device, IE cellphone, laptop or tablet on a daily basis.

Over history technology has changed mankind’s overall culture. From clocks to computers the use of electronics and tools is occurring every day in almost all situations. In Carr’s article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” he introduces the idea how the internet is changing our lives by making us mentally process information differently from the past, based off previous changes in history. Carr explains how we think less deeply and rely on quick facts, versus using critical thinking and research. Also he explains how our brain is malleable, and may be changed by the internet’s impression. Lastly Carr talks about what the

As time progresses in our technologically propelled era and the internet continues to provide as the largest network source of information, our intellectual perception of information takes on a more distinctive and less analytical approach than before. The use of the internet has seized control over the vast connection of neural pathways in our minds, influencing our experiences and essentially hindering our natural ability to apply cognitive thinking.

With new technological advancements occurring more rapidly each year, it is no surprise that there is an extensive conversation about how these new progressions impact the brain’s development and cognition. One trend is evident: there is a universal acknowledgment that technology is indeed changing the way we think. Among the members contributing to this conversation, two strikingly different outlooks on how these changes will affect the future exist. Either we should be terrified, or worrying is premature. Articles written by experts specializing in psychology and the brain, such as Pinker’s “Mind Over Mass Media,” as well as "How Has the Internet Reshaped Human Cognition?" by Kee and Loh, as well as and finally “Children, Wired- for

What was once filled with intricate plots, deep narrative, and creative thinking, is now replaced . . . wait . . . what were we talking about? Let me Google the answer really quick. Oh, too bad; the article is so long, I don’t want to read it all. I’ll just skim the text and hopefully we can piece something together.

The uses of technology like computers and cell phones are growing every day with new uses and forms. There are mixed feelings about if technology is making us smarter or stupider thru out day to day life. Nicolas Carr a New York Times writer wrote an article about “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and he tries to show people that computers are making our lives simpler and there for making us as humans stupid. Another writher that goes by the name Greg is a writer for digitaltonto.com, and he found the previous article and wrote “How Computers Change the Way We learn” which is about how all lot of the facts in Carr article could have been read to say anything that the author wanted, so he could make people believe.

American writer, Nicholas G. Carr, in The Atlantic July/ August 2008 Issue titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” argues that the amount of time we spend online, especially google, has caused us to lose our minds by “tinkering” with our brains, “reprograming our memory,” and changing the way in which we process information. Carr’s purpose is to contribute to the idea that “Google” along with other online tools, is programing us to be less attentive and to the inhibition of our critical thinking skills. Guided by personal experiences, subjectivity, presumptions, Carr concludes that our reliance on google and other online apparatuses has caused us to become “machinelike,” claiming that the understanding we have of the world and is “mediated” by computers, flattening our intelligence and converting it into artificial intelligence with no value. Carr’s theory is un-logical because it is based on presumptions that overgeneralize the role that online tools like google play on our lives, based on the experiences and opinions of a few. By ignoring the complexities of these tools and the numerous features they have to offer which help enable us to expand our way of thinking and analyzing information, Carr incorrectly assumes that because the amount of information we are gathering and attaining from online apparatuses like google, that we are becoming hollow computer like entities with little to no intelligence.

How many times a day do you find yourself reading a book or long article but cannot seem to concentrate? This seems to be happening a lot lately, to many people especially the younger generations. In Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he addresses this recurring problem as it overcomes him as well. He tries to figure out why so many have this same problem by asking others, looking back through history, using current studies and so on. Carr’s article shows how peoples deep seeded need or more of a want can turn into a struggle with a technology obsession.

With the advent of Worldwide Web, telephones, telegraphs and other technologies human race has advanced with a speed, which was never even imagined few decades, down the line. Many people have been impacted with this change and a lot of people have questioned the effects of Internet on cognitive abilities and Human brain. There has been a debate to this argument whether Internet has a negative impact on cognition and human brain thus de-humanizing the human race or is it benefitting us by reaching the unimagined areas and achieving a comfortable lifestyle and setting us free from the shackles of stressful efforts.

Technology has made our life easier because it helps us in our daily lives but most importantly. It’s allowing us to becoming even more lazy than we already were. We depend on our phone to do things simple. Technology is making us blind and more stupid.Google is great if you know how to use it the right way.

With the fast-paced development of technology, more and more people get used to reading through computers rather than printed books. While acknowledging the convenience provided by the internet, Nicholas Carr expresses his concerns that “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence” (328) in his article Is Google Making Us Stupid? Published in the 2008 issue of the Atlantic. However, there existed some weaknesses in the argument due to his overstated pathos, inappropriate examples, and faulty logics, which to some extent hurt his persuasiveness.

Is Google Making Us Stupid? Is an article that exemplifies rhetoric expertise. The writer of the article, Nicholas Carr, is well known for his writing regarding the tech industry. Before understanding the author’s approach, the reader must understand the author’s background. What authority do they have to write about this subject? In this case, I’ll deliver my own knowledge of his background. Carr is a scholar writer who has written for the Harvard Business Review, various essays covering tech influential topics, as well as a few books that have received rather high reviews from critics. While Carr never directly referenced his background within this article, there is a small assumption to be made from the purpose of this piece. Carr is writing this article in order to provide background information for his new book Utopia is Creepy. This is logical of the writer since he is giving us a taste of his writing style, while it is also giving the reader a chance to preview his stance on technology in a brief manner. With Carr’s background in mind, we can begin to look at his purpose with the article. The author uses various rhetorical methods within his writing to structure the writing, form his argument, and achieve his overall purpose.

Throughout history, no single piece of technology has been so heavily relied upon such as the internet. Things such as the first car, the first telephone, and even the first airplanes were not as easily, or readily accessible as the Net is today. In all reality, the internet is the greatest and most useful tool that humanity has ever dreamt up. From instant transferring of data to endless sources of information, the Net not only connects all corners of the world, but makes each and every person more knowledgeable and self-aware. But as with all new and virtuous things, there is a darker and more dangerous side. The internet is a tool that consumes the intellectual, changing the way the brain functions and ultimately creating a reliance. This reliance is so severe that all of life’s functions depend on the internet without the same dependency being reciprocated. The relationship is one sided, where the Net has much to gain while the user has little. Furthermore, in its relatively new state, the internet is very obscure and has very questionable ethics. Although beneficial in specific cases, the internet affects one’s emotional state and latently mars cognitive function while creating a devastatingly powerful and coercive reliance.

Nicholas Carrs article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” makes points that I agree with, although I find his sources to be questionable. The article discusses the effects that the Internet may be having on our ability to focus, the difference in knowledge that we now have, and our reliance on the Internet. The points that are made throughout Carrs article are very thought provoking but his sources make them seem invaluable.