Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr, posed the question, “Is Google making us stupid”, and asks his readers to give it some thought. The article made suggestions such as the internet changing the way the mind works and that the internet has negative consequences on the human brain. Carr wants everyone to be cautious of the internet because of the many different ways it has affected and will continue to affect the way we think. When I think about this article, I can see the many different tactics Carr used, such as fact vs fiction, cause and effect, and the clearly stated argument.

Nicholas Carr’s Atlantic Online article “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” discusses how the use of the computer affects our thought process. Carr starts out talking about his own experience as a writer and how he felt like “something had been tinkering with his brain, remapping his neural circuitry and reprogramming his memory”. Since starting to use the Internet his research techniques have changed. Carr said before he would immerse himself in books, lengthy articles and long stretches of prose allowing his “mind to get caught up in the narrative or the arguments”(July/August 2008, Atlantic Monthly). Today Carr has found that “his concentration drifts away from the text after several pages and he struggles to get

New technology around the world is being developed and improved every day to make people's life easier. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr explains his thoughts and beliefs on how he feels that the internet, especially google is making people rely more on the web to find information and making them full with artificial knowledge. The author begins his article by explaining personal side effects that he has experience due to the use of the web, like losing focus, not being able to deeply understand a book anymore, and the reasons why he gets distracted when reading. The author then talks furthermore about his life being surrounded by the internet and how it is to blame the web for the issue that he has experience; but then he explains how and why the internet has been “godsend” to him because of his profession as a writer. In order to draw

Over the years, technology has developed into something that we cannot live without. Society is constantly being dictated and reshaped by the newest technology. In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he expounded on the uncomfortable sense that someone, or something was tinkering with his brain. He realized that he’s not thinking the way he used to. Additionally, he explains how our brains aren’t familiar with critical thinking anymore. He also introduces the idea that the Internet is doing more harm to us than good. I believe Carr’s ideas on the negative effects of the Internet are well founded. The validity surrounds us daily.

The Article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, has a persuasive and emphasized narrative, into depicting how the Internet has taken prominence of the human mind, explaining that people in todays modern age have lost the aptitude to engage deep reading, because the internet has revolutionized into a manipulating tool, that lets us easily access information with a simple click of a button from a computer and the result is that we are becoming insipid readers. Furthermore, he continues to criticize the Internet as a power system that extracts data from search engines to control the way that humans thinks and to distracts us so they can attain ultimate power over us. Carr, has a strong argument but fails to acknowledge the fact, that our

The internet – the decisive technology of the Information Age – is making its way in an attempt to make life easier for people and undeniably, it is very effective in doing so. However, in the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr talks about how that artificial intelligence is taking over our own genuine intelligence. He discusses the changes that have occurred in people since the internet became a universal medium to access information. Carr’s main purpose is to make us aware that the internet is having negative effects that diminish our capacity of concentration and contemplation. In his thesis he states that “as we come to rely on computers to meditate out understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens

Throughout his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Nicholas Carr uses several terms and phrases that enhance his argument. One key term that is central to Carr’s argument is the word “reprogramming”. Carr uses this word several times throughout his article to assert his claim that the Internet is “reprogramming” or changing our minds in a way that alters our thinking and memory. By using this term, it seems that Carr adds gravity to the possibility that the Internet is changing our minds for the worst. Likewise, Carr mentions that the Internet is interfering with our “concentration” and causing it to “drift” from certain activities such as deep reading. He argues that our brain is scattering with frequent use of the Internet. It is hard

For almost two decades, Google has surely been the top dog of search engines on the worldwide internet. Beginning as a research project by two college students, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, called Backrub, Google has now become the answer to all questions. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful. According to Niholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” he states that our use of the internet has serious effects on the way we real, think, and live. Carr’s struggle along with his friends who he’s said are experiencing these same struggles, seem to be putting the blame on the internet for their lack of attentiveness, when there can be other underlying issues other than excessive use of the web affecting your brain.

Nicholas Carr is the author of books concerning technology and culture. One of his most recent bestsellers regarding the topic is his work titled What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. In the summer of 2008, Carr’s piece, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, was published in The Atlantic Monthly. In this essay, Carr declares that the Internet is altering the way people think (500). Carr writes that the Internet lowers the ability for concentration and consideration (501). He believes the ability to read and understand a lengthy piece of writing has also been practically entirely lost (Carr 501). Carr additionally states that the Internet has severed our capability to interpret text (502).

As I read the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicolas Carr, I cannot help but see the influence of how internet use can affect your thinking ability and create a negative effect on how think. We can use the internet for all sorts of resources in our daily lives but, the problem is that nobody puts the work in anymore and is finding the fastest way to get the “A,” while not grasping the concept resulting in them not being knowledgeable in their field of work. By them just skimming instead of understanding, they are not fully learning. For example, many of us can look at something and not remember what it was that we looked at the following day. This paper will be discussing the pros and cons of Nicolas Carr’s thoughts on Google, and how the search engine turned GPS, email, and so on is affecting the brains of today.

This day in age, technology is more present in our lives than it’s ever been. Every day we constantly check our phones, emails, tablets, and even smart watches. These devices have opened doors that we previously didn't even know existed. They are outlets to unlimited knowledge from all over the world. Although many people, including me, have grown up with these commodities, they are still extremely new. Home computers have only been mainstream for 20 years or so, while smartphones have only been mainstream for about 5 years! What all this leads itself to, is that we are just now able to observe the way this new technology and instant access to knowledge can affect our brain. Author, Nicholas Carr, believes that the world’s largest search engine, Google, has molded our brains to be incapable of deep thought, and that it also even makes us stupid.

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.

Nicholas Carr’s, Is Google Making Us Stoopid?, essay is organized using the compare and contrast pattern. The author compares the past and present cognitive abilities among readers, including himself. He states, "I'm not thinking the way I used to think…the deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.“ (510)

According to the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the Internet is beginning to change how people’s brains work. He states that reading articles online can remap how the brain functions. It has become harder for people to read a lengthier article due the brain’s capacity of obtaining the information. Minds begin to drift away after reading only a couple of pages and some people would not even bother to read a long article. The reasoning for all of this is that the media, including the Internet, is giving them all the answers that they need. Due to this, people are relying more on the Internet to obtain their information instead of their intelligence. Nickolas Carr argues in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that the ability to focus and understand is being reduced by the Internet.

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.