Is Google Making Us Stupid?

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

According to Nicholas Carr, whose essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (July/August 2008 Atlantic) points out that relying on internet too much is rewiring our brain, which makes it harder for us to concentrate

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published July 2008 in The Atlantic, he discusses the changes that have taken place in past years since people have started relying more and more on the internet for information. His main claim is that the internet has affected the way that we process information. Consequentially, making us lazier and less focused on what we are doing. His main frustration is that he can no longer read a few paragraphs without being distracted.

Many people may argue that technology has helped us become more efficient in today’s society. Technological advances such as the internet and Google has also opened up many new opportunities for people. However, with such advances some may argue that we begin to lose some of our cognitive thinking ability. In an essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he argues his thesis that people will lose concentration and cognitive thinking as a result to reading online. Carr begins by explaining how the many innovations of today’s technologies has changed the way one thinks. Carr continues by saying that the internet is affecting peoples concentration, however they use it for its convenience; to quickly scan an article and avoid “the traditional way of reading.” Carr then explains how Maryanne Wolf believes that the new style of reading has altered our ability to interpret and make deep mental connections. Carr shows support of how Frederick Nietzsche enhanced his style of writing beginning with a type writer in 1882. Carr then explains how neuroscience professor James Olds, discovered that nerve cells break apart and form new connections to form new habits. As explained by Danielle Bell and Lewis Mumford, Carr says intellectual technologies such as the mechanical clock, has divided action and thought; helping create the scientific method in a series of steps. Carr then explains how Alan Turning discovered that computers could be used as information processing device;

The internet sparked a new age of technology that may change the way our brains work. In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr discusses his concern about the internet’s effects on our intelligence. He was once an avid reader, much like many of his colleagues, yet many of them can no longer dive into a thick novel. The power of Google has prevailed in terms of efficiently gaining information, so they all became fonder of scanning than in-depth reading. Carr even provides experimental evidence that people who are browsing the web tend to only stay on the same page for a short amount of time and rarely go back to it. This is unlike the way he used to spend weeks deciphering long texts. He acknowledges that this new type of reading is a larger part of our lives than any other form of communication that came before the internet, and that our brains will reprogram in order to take on these new qualities. He also notices that the systematic efficiency we created through industrialization is prominent in the Google search engine, and fears this could one day be implemented into our thought process, ending the ambiguity that results from our curiosities. The internet, and the massive amounts of readily available information that comes with it, can actually transform the way we think and perceive information, but it should be something we embrace, because we can utilize it to enhance society.

The internet is one of the many technologies to come about in this fast pace and ever evolving world. Within these new technologies, such as the internet, one can see how even people have evolved and changed their ways of thinking to keep up. One aspect of this change is the way people understand and think about what they read or see. In Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid, the author present the idea that the use of the internet is the reason behind the changes within the minds of its users. This idea points towards the internet being both a mind altering and convenience mechanism; as well as being easily abused by its users. This allows Carr to effectively propose the idea that the internet, and technology in general, is used not only as a convenience mechanism, but also has a way to change how its uses think. However, Carr ineffectively represents how this change comes about due to user abuse of new technology like the internet.

Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid” questions the motif of technology and if it is making us smarter or if it has made us so dependent on technology and its facility to do things that we are losing our own ability. Carr asserts “my mind expects to take in information the way the net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles… The more they use the web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing,” to emphasize the detriments technology has created and its constant environment of perpetual interference. Though because of technology, and the internet, people have become more efficient and are able to attain information faster. Carr concludes that some people tend to forget is that information is not knowledge, that knowledge is the transfer for short memory to long term memory, and the problem is that people tend to take in too much too fast, and overload the short term memory with constant new information and push out other short term memory to make room. But

People are turning out to be all the more innovatively effective consistently. New developments and advancements are always being made. The Internet is turning out to be more "dependable" consistently. Be that as it may, what amount do we truly get from the consistent progression of Internet utilize and more quick witted innovation? Would it be advisable for us to take a gander at their commitments to the world as a promoter or a revile? The basic impact of "manmade brainpower" in the innovation we utilize each day is inspected by two splendid creators, Nicholas Carr and Jamias Cascio. In Carr's article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid", he clarifies the impacts of the Internet and innovation in our general public and cases that the abuse of innovation is risky and can influence how our psyche works. Jamias Cascio, then again, utilizes his article "Get Smarter" to demonstrate the beneficial

Nicholas Carr, the author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” believed that as technology improves, we lose a little bit of ourselves in the process. I think that he is right, as I look around I see people not even able to hold a conversation without looking at their phone or tablets. Practices that used to be a normal thing people learned before technology improves, now people rely on their phone to do those things now. The days where people had to remember phone number and birthdays are over, those things are now programed into cell phone and electronic calendars. Only a few years ago people had to go to the library to get information and we would remember that information for some time, for these reasons I believe that technology is making people dumber and dumber.

Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” explains the impact the Internet is having on his (and others) patience with in depth reading habits, and possibly the way their brain is processing information. The old days of having to spend hours researching a subject are long gone because of the Internet. Having such a powerful tool available at any time can be a good and bad thing wrapped up in the same package. Over the last couple decades, home computer and smartphone ownership has been on a steady rise with most homes now having multiple devices. Therefore, having unlimited information available at all times has become a reality.

According to Manuel Castells, “The Impact of the Internet on Society” the Internet and its many uses have been misunderstood. The Internet has helped to improve social relationships but “The media aggravate the distorted perception by dwelling into scary reports on the basis of anecdotal observation and biased commentary” (page 10). With such thought being expressed, it seems we are falling for the falsely defined characteristics of the internet. We can either let the unreliable reviews take our attention away from the internet or let it contribute to the way we learn. While the false reports haven’t had much negative effects on usage, Nicholas Carr offers a different perspective than that of Manuel Castells. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr believes the Internet has taken the foundation out of learning, socializing and reading. Coupled with Manuel Castells, Nicholas Carr agrees that the Internet has been of good use in some cases (Wikipedia for the many hours of research conducted for its database that we access) but he also believes the Internet is slowly making him and us stupid. Carr says “My mind now expects to take in information the way the net distributes it” (page 3). He might have spent too much time on the Internet or he has simply lost the touches of doing things the old fashioned way. With this in mind, without the Internet at the use of our fingertips we will be researching and socializing like that of the old days (something that will take ages).

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.

In our modern day society, it is extremely common for one idea to be represented in many different ways. Both Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and M.T Anderson’s novel Feed, the broad idea of the relationship between humans and technology is portrayed. Carr’s article complains of how technology changes the way we think. Carr instigates the idea that we are losing our passion for learning as a result of the internet and search engines such as Google. These advancements, Carr proposes, lead to a world where our intelligence “flattens into artificial intelligence”. In a similar fashion, Anderson’s fictional novel addresses a set of characters who live on our planet at an arbitrary time in the future. These characters, or at least most of them, have their lives completely controlled by technology, in the form of an implanted chip, which represents to its followers the feed, a social networking site of sorts that is all-encompassing. The story shows how these technological advancements have irreversibly changed the world of the characters, where the characters are not themselves without technology. Both pieces extensively address the relationship between man and technology. While the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” and the novel Feed stem from two completely different genres, both pieces encapsulate the idea that technology is leading to a loss of individuality among people.

Old generations work harder when doing a research paper, they are always busy with their work. Before the internet, people had always done their work by reading books, and they learn how to analyse it, and comprehend the meaning of the book. People were more active outside, they were healthier, and more intellectual. They also socialized more with individuals and they were less isolated. The internet makes people lazier, isolated, and more self-centered.

What effect does modern digital technology have on individuals who rely on it heavily in their everyday lives? Innovations such as video games, internet search engines, and online databases receive great praise as well as great criticism depending on who answers this question. Nicholas Carr and Steven Johnson have both written pieces stating their opinions on technology’s effect on the human brain. Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” explains how accessing information quickly and easily through search engines like Google negatively alters the way people seek and read information and think. Johnson’s book “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” covers the positive attributes of digital technology, video games in particular. He explains how video games are intellectually stimulating and help develop complex skills. Digital technology has interesting effects on the different processes of our mind.