With technology giving us better methods of communication, modernized education and immediate answers to our every question, we use it on a daily basis with little comprehension of what is does to us; but is there a price to pay for that? As the Internet progressively becomes our primary source of information and the use of technology continues to increase, it is speculated that our neurological processes are changing. Although smartphones and other related mobile devices are seen as influential and efficient, it is now thought that these devices have a lasting negative impact on our ability to process information, think critically, remember clearly, and mostly, pay attention. With this new digital lifestyle making it difficult to stay focused on one thing at a time, the human attention span has shortened greatly in the last decade (Borreli). In his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr uses anecdotes, personal examples, and scientific studies to make the point that the Internet is affecting our critical thinking skills and ability to process information. In expansion from the argument that Carr makes to prove that the Internet is affecting certain mental abilities, it is important to question if and how technology and the Internet are also negatively impacting our attention spans.
As the population evolves to rely on a mobile Internet for most of their information, it is evident that many of our neurological processes are also changing.
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.
In an article by Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, the author is questioning the readers about the internet and making suggestions that the internet is changing how our brains operate. Throughout the article, the author's main point is to inform us about the negative effects of the internet on humans.
In the Atlantic article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr discusses the changes in a human’s thinking style and concentration ability that have occurred since they start depending on the internet for information. The author begins describing the new struggle that he is facing with reading lengthy texts. He indicates that this change is caused from spending a long time on the internet. Carr noted that this universal medium does not only provide endless benefits for the public, but also shapes the process of their thoughts. The internet is affecting human cognition; therefore, controls their brains, causes lack of capacity to concentrate, and disengages their ability to read, absorb, and interpret articles. The author is not the only
In Nicholas Carr’s news article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008), he expresses his concerns on how technology is changing the mental capacity of our minds. The author first provides anecdotal evidence by giving relevant quotes from reputable sources, then he introduces notable historical trends as examples to support his claim, and to conclude he challenges his readers to rethink their views on the internet. His purpose is to inform readers on the negative effects of using the internet. He seems to have a younger, more tech-savvy audience in his mind, as they are exposed to technology at a young age. One can agree with Carr because as technology such as the internet evolve, our minds adapt at the cost our cognitive abilities.
In “Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?” Nicholas Carr argues that although the Internet allows us to access a groundbreaking amount of information, there is evidence that it is making us perfunctory thinkers. Carr believes this due to the division of attention that the Internet allows us to have, so therefore we are not processing and storing the information we see online. In contrast, Carr states that we need to pay deep attention to process and store information as memory. Carr sites an experiment conducted by Patricia Greenfield and concluded that our way of thinking is becoming more superficial.
The emergence and use of computer and internet technologies have greatly revolutionized the world. Everything and every process in the world is attuning to computer and internet technology for effective survival and success. Human beings have succumbed to the greatest effect of the revolution. Initially, human beings conducted their activities and processes manually even when using machines. Today, people largely depend on computerized technologies and automated systems to conduct and run activities and processes. In the article, “Is Google making us stupid?”, Nicholas Carr is showing concern and worry over the way the computer and internet technology have compromised cognitive and reasoning abilities of human beings. The arguments and themes discussed by Nicholas in the article are true and reflect the exact situation in the contemporary world. Carr demonstrates why he believes that the platform that Google offers to speedily access information online is reducing people’s level of concentration and shifts their intelligence. Arguably, the author demonstrates how he believes that Google regularly seizes people’s concentration. That is, internet users can know of something but fail to understand the sources and validity of
The internet can be great source of information, but it has a negative effect on the human brain. In Nicholas Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he describes how the internet has negatively effected his brain by stating, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski” (Carr 733). The internet has a huge impact on the thinking process of the human brain and it is completely changing the human ability to concentrate for long periods of time, human reading skills, and the configuration of the brain.
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.
In his essay “Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”, Nicholas Carr argues that technology leaves us unable to be as thorough in our previous mental abilities and distracts us, through changes to our mental pathways and biological mechanisms. Nicholas Carr uses the appeal of data, the frightening effects of living in the digital age, and his own conclusions from his exhaustive research to structure his examination.
Most of the teenagers present in the contemporary age own a myriad of different electronic items and gadgets. There is a theory that whenever a new gadget or item is used, the brain adapts and changes mental processes to accommodate to the new experiences. For example, when the internet began to become popular, the brain adapted by thinking faster. In addition, less and less teenagers enjoy reading lengthy novels, because they are used to the fast-paced browsing done on the internet. In the article, “Is Google Making us Stoopid?” author Nicholas Carr presents evidence to prove the internet has changed the way humans think.
The article ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid?’ discusses in detail how technology has affected the human brain’s ability to read long passages. The author feels that the internet is bad for the brain. Nicholas Carr writes that he spends much of his leisure time from the Net. Carr feels like he can’t concentrate on the long passages of reading because his brain is used to the fast millisecond flow of the Net. ‘For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing.’ (266) The supporting idea is that his mind now ‘expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it--in a swiftly moving streams of particles’ (227). His brain wants to think as fast as the internet goes.
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.
The brain profits and becomes swift at comprehending with the help of technology. Researchers have found that people who actively use the web, become faster at sorting information (Matt Richtel 8). This research proves that the brains of internet users excel in understanding new topics. To add, people who use the web also have a very active brain. To illustrate, Dr. Small found that “...Internet users showed greater brain activity than nonusers, suggesting they were growing their neutral circuity” (Richtel 11). The brain is complex and needs to be fed; technology is doing exactly this. On the other hand, people argue that using the internet does not allow one to think on their own. Nicholas Carr and Peter Norrig believe along with many others that we will never process information as well as we should if we’re always using the Internet. Although this can be seen as true, there is no research to support this claim. Therefore, the brain can become more intuitive with the assistance of the
It is a well-known fact that the Internet has become a central part of society, and it has completely changed every aspect of life for the human race, whether it is for better or worse. Nicholas Carr explains his thoughts on how the Internet has changed how people think in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He believes that the human race is losing its ability to think deeply and is creating a distraction culture, and that companies like Google are working to increase this way of thinking. However, the issue of how the human brain is changing with the Internet is very complex, and the answer to this question goes beyond a simple yes or no.
Carr concludes that we are constantly distracted online due to the many hyperlinks of advertisements and social media notifications, which impedes our brain to fully grasp the meaning behind the words. Maggie Jackson said, “The brain takes time to change goals, remember the rules needed for the new task, and block out cognitive interference from the previous still-vivid activity.” Due to the distractions of music, online shopping, and games our brains are more likely to misinterpret critical points. Many experiments Carr describes in his book show that people who read online documents will absorb less detail. All of these studies support Carr’s theory that the Internet only impairs our brain’s potential to interpret and explain the knowledge we come across in our daily