Technology Changing Brain

The Internet is something that some consider their lifesavers, while others believe that it takes their life away. The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr is a novel that explores the different areas of how new technologies affect humans in different ways, regarding multi-tasking and distractions, to how new technologies make us lose a little part of ourselves. Throughout the book Carr puts forward very strong arguments, but then loses creditability with his use of fallacies in argument.

Nicholas Carr covers an unprecedented amount of material in his novel, “The Shallows.” He delves into subjects ranging from the history of the book to the business of Google to the psychological concept of neuroplasticity. All of these topics support his main argument: the idea that the internet is destroying our brains. He takes the deterministic approach that we are the tools we use, meaning they shape our brains. According to Carr, the internet negates our memories, deems print books useless, and distracts us from reality. His counterargument comes from the instrumentalist approach; this viewpoint maintains that people stay the same no matter the tools they use. His arguments are both sound and flimsy, current and outdated, and he rants

The internet is an excellent place to explore our mind and put our thoughts together; however, it also has a negative effect to our brains, and the more we use it the more it decrease our intelligence. In this essay “Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?” by Nicholas Carr, he argues about the immoral side of the internet. According to Carr, “When we’re constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be online, our brains are unable to forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give depth and distinctiveness to our thinking” (22). Carr’s pint of view about the internet is that it does not make us smarter in any way; if anything it make us dense and slow. Scientific study have shown that most people who stayed on the internet quit a lot are more likely to damage their brains mentally. According to Carr, the internet is also a place to waste our time. Carr backed up his arguments with studies from scientists, researches and even books. In these essay, Carr’s appeals to logic and understanding is the strongest; whereas his appeals to ethos and his appeals to pathos are finite.

In the Shallows Nicholas Carr shown his side of the argument that technology is overpowering our minds. How he proves this fact is that whenever we learn something new on the computer it takes less than 2 days for the brain to reshape itself to adapt to the new learning environment. The brian has a plasticity to being able to mold itself into a new challenge to adapt to a new circumstance. We become dependent of the internet addicted to see what is new with our friends. Finally it shows that we can’t be offline for a certain time period or we will get withdraws like a drug. This shows how the internet and technology has affected us in a terrible manner.

This is accomplished through the use of anecdotes. Carr opens up by quoting a 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, in which an artificially designed supercomputer (HAL), intended to good for the astronauts, but in the movie, HAL goes on a murdering spree killing the astronauts it was intend to help. The anecdote puts Carr argument into perspective, as the reader is emotionally attached and feels that Carr might be on to something. Following this anecdote, Carr gives out facts of how “someone has been tinkering with [his] brain” ( Carr 91) and how “Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 92). The mix of antedates and facts paints a complete picture within the readers head, similar to the movie, that although the internet is a godsend we should not whole heartedly rely on the internet without knowing the effects on our brain down the road. Furthermore, toward the end of the article, Carr uses dark lungs to further instils fear in his article as he is “haunted” (Carr 101) and “afraid” (Carr 101) “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world” (Carr 101). By Carr using a mix of anecdotes and facts in his article, he makes a connection between the film and the internet; as he is not wanting the intellectual ability of our generation to decline as our brains evolve to face the

Each and everyday around the world there are new advances in technology attempting to make life more simple. In the article by Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Carr explains his beliefs on how the internet is causing mental issues in today's society. Carr starts with his own opinion, he says the Internet is causing him to lose focus quickly. He cannot stay hooked to a book. He writes about his life being surrounded by the internet and how it has created problems, like not being able to stay focused on a reading; but it is interesting how he says the Internet has been a ‘godsend’ in his chosen profession. Carr uses a great deal of rhetorical appeals to try to connect with the audience. He compares the past and the present and how it has altered the

Nicholas Carr's Atlantic Online article "Is Google Making Us Stupid," talks about how the utilization of the PC influences our point of view. Carr begins discussing his own particular experience as an author and how he felt like "something had been tinkering with his cerebrum, remapping his neural hardware and reinventing his memory". Since beginning to utilize the Internet his exploration strategies have changed. Carr said before he would drench himself in books, protracted articles and long extends of composition permitting his "brain to become involved with the story or the arguments"(July/August 2008, Atlantic Monthly). Today Carr has found that "his fixation floats away from the content after a few pages and he battles to get once again into the content". His reason is that since he has put in the previous ten years working internet, looking and surfing and composing substance for databases" his cerebrum hardware has changed. He shows that some of his kindred scholars have encountered the same sorts of changes in their perusing books and looking after fixation. Some of them said they don't read books as effortlessly on the grounds that their fixation and center has get to be shorter.

At the beginning of his essay, Carr describes his interactions between reading and the internet: “I’m not thinking the way I used to think... Now my concentration starts to drift after two or three pages... For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online” (150). In this passage, Carr depicts how the internet has changed him; he used to be able to concentrate for a long time, but with distractions from the internet he is unable to hold his focus while reading and can only concentrate for “two or three pages.” By including himself in the group of people who are afflicted by the pitfalls of the internet, Carr appears more honest and credible, which makes his argument believable.

Since the rise of technology and smart devices, the public has seen controversy over the benefits and drawbacks of internet usage. Nicholas Carr shared his opinions in the article “From The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.” In the text, he claims that it seems to be “chipping away” his “capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 5). In addition to that, he does not hesitate to state how “some worry they’re becoming chronic scatterbrains” from using the web (Carr 6). His views are painted purple in this piece of writing, as any reader could infer that Carr possesses a slightly bitter tone when it comes to the interwebs. He displays his dislike for the way it is reshaping our brains and mental function, even going

In his essay, “Is Google Making us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr addresses the fears that many people share about the World Wide Web: that it is rerouting our brains, making it difficult to concentrate effectively. Carr uses personal experiences about his loss of concentration that has become more evident after using the internet. Rather than reading texts in-depth, our brains have become accustomed to skimming over information. Carr’s view on technology is that by relying on knowledge that we are being handed, we are becoming humans with artificial thoughts. He fears the internet could be a monster living in our homes. He is afraid of technology making us an indolent race. I think that the internet can make us lazy, but that doesn’t necessarily correlate to becoming “stupid.” Carr only focuses on the negative altercations that the internet has on our lives. Due to this, he comes off as oblivious to the transformation that we are undergoing with this new technology. The internet is making us change our focus from absorbing time consuming information. Instead, we have shifted our attention to learning information in a timely manner. Over the years, more ways to access the internet have emerged, opening up a whole new world for us. Instead of socializing and working in print, we are delving into a “visual world.” Alternatively, we are being introduced into being able to personally create, develop and consume information. Hearing information from a teacher is being substituted for

In his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, author Nicholas Carr discusses his belief that the internet is negatively changing the way people’s brains process and consume information. Carr describes this phenomenon when he writes, “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). Carr’s point is that the less effort put into reading and researching caused by societies constant access to the internet, lessens deep thinking and mental growth, which in turn results in a loss of individualism in our society. Incidentally, in his article, “Smarter than you Think”, writer Clive Thompson agrees with Carr’s statement by saying, “Today’s multitasking tools really do make it harder than before to stay focused during long acts of reading and contemplation” (355). However, Thompson goes on to argue that the benefits humans derive from the advancements being made in technology outweigh the possible risks in changes to cognitive functions caused by the melding of man with machine. Thompson builds his argument by examining how the game of chess has evolved

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Carr discusses the topic of Internet usage and whether or not it is affecting our intelligence. He begins his article by saying that he has begun to feel as though someone is tampering with his memory. Carr states that while he does not believe his memory is decreasing, it is also not improving. He believes that his concentration is not as strong, saying that he can’t stay focused on one story long enough to complete it, and if he does, he cannot focus on the plot enough to soak in the point the author is trying to convey. Carr tells us that he thinks that his diminished concentration is because of skimming articles online instead of reading entire writings for his research. He also

Is the internet making us smarter or dumber? People continuously argue whether this rise of electronic use and internet in our lives is a negative or positive aspect. In June 5, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Nicholas Carr raises and answer the intriguing question,“Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has bad effects on our brain. He says that the internet makes it harder to remember anything, and that is harder to move memories into long term memory. Those who are continually distracted by emails, alerts, and text messages understand less than a person who can concentrate. Nicholas Carr points that the internet can change the way our brain acts. He states that those who use the internet are shallow, and the internet is causing irreversible damage to our thought processes and making us stupid. A week later, Steven Pinker counters Nicholas Carr’s assertions in his own New York Time article,“Mind Over Mass Media.”He argues that electronic technologies are not as horrible as some may make it seem, and he starts his article by addressing how“New forms of media have always caused moral panics”(199). Throughout his article, Pinker explains why critics, who accuse electronic technology as harming to human intelligence, are wrong. He suggests that,“these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart”(200). Through media and social networking, the internet brings people closer together and provides convenience for people’s life.

Discuss ways in which modern (post 1950) neuroscientific research has had an impact on our understanding of the developing brain.

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.