The Shallowss: Is Google Making USupid?

You've probably heard the latest studies that multitasking may not be as productive as people once thought it was. According to an article on Entrepreneur, our brains hone in on distractions. The brain grabs our attention because the distraction signals change and change can signal danger.

Tugend starts her article off by exploring the fact that as we read this article we are more than likely already multitasking weather it be listening to music, texting, tv or even talking to kids! She then goes on to say why multitasking has been accepted since the 1990’s and has been thought to be saving time that neuroscientist have actually proven that multitasking can be less efficient and even cause us a great deal of stress. She uses Dr. Hallowell to emphasize that why multitasking can make tasks more fun that it will actually hinder are focus and but he does go on to say that depending on what function of the brain you are using it could induce or spark creativity. There is actually no such thing as multitasking one can not do two things at once one can simply divide there attention or rapidly switch back and forth from one task to

In “Multitasking Can Make You Lose...Um...Focus,” Alina Tugend examines the negative aspects and many disadvantages that occur through multitasking. Tugend begins by stating that multitasking is the norm for today’s fast paced society; however, in reality it is pulling focus from the task at hand. The author continues on to cite various researchers who express that the brain cannot simultaneously do two tasks at once and is actually just flipping back and forth between tasks rapidly. Although multitasking seems like a time efficient method, Tugend reveals, it is actually creating a large amount of stress and pressure on the individual. Furthermore, the author notes that multitasking actually pulls away from the task at hand creating a great time loss. Tugend even goes on to explain that multitasking is proving to be bad for innovation by not allowing an individual to think in depth about one task for an extended period of time. With Tugends article in mind I agree that multitasking puts a lot of stress and pressure on the individual, creates a loss in time, and is awful for innovation.

In, “Is Google Really Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr (2008), he validates how people are heavily relying on the internet pushing for Artificial Intelligence. Carr also talks about how it is changing the way our minds work with negative side effects. He demonstrates how the internet may be shaping our thought process by giving observational examples as well as personal experiences. Beginning with his personal experiences he says how he finds it difficult to keep focused on a book, as a writer, this is rare to him. He tries to find a reason to his inability to stay focused and comes to a conclusion it is due to the internet. Carr is very persuasive in his article, although his point of view maybe seen as an opinion, he does show and support

I found the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid? “, written by Elizabeth Carr, very interesting (Carr, 2005). I enjoyed how it provided different examples of the increased dependency on technological advances in today's society. This increased dependency has also cause an increased demand for the ability to have access to the internet in almost any place; you can now have a car that has a continuous connection to an internet source so you’re never off the grid.

On Carr's stance on the question, is Google making us stupid, I would be compelled to disagree with him and say that it's actually making us smarter. His idea of saying that we are becoming stupid because of Google is a paradox because we learn so much every day from going to Google and researching something and he's saying that his ability to concentrate is diminishing. Instances that actually enable us to become smarter by using Google would be the way we can instantly find information, because of the internet we are now reading far more than we did in the 1970s, and because of how we read on the internet, we changed our style of reading to a style that puts efficiency and immediacy above everything. We are just adapting to a new type of

While students feel they are great at multitasking, studies show that they actually perform academically at a lower level than those who do not multitask. A study was conducted by a respected research lab in Stanford University. Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University, introduces us to a study conducted on carefully-selected high chronic students who multitask (Digital Nation). The experiment was structured for students to identify numbers as odd or even, letters as vowels or consonants. Professor Nass wanted to test how quickly these students can switch tasks without losing focus. The results showed that people who multitask are slower than those who do not multitask. While slower does not mean horrible, it should raise a sign that if they had focused on their work only they would get better scores in their respective studies. Sherry Turkle, in an interview, displayed the differences between two common multitasking activities: taking a break from your studies to stretch and surfing the web. Turkle says: “When you get up and stretch and take a walk around the block, you can stay with your problem. You can clear your mind; you can move your body. You can stay

Instead of social media, the Internet is also a kind of technology which benefits education by improving one’s knowledge through an easy access of information. Because of the advanced technology, the Internet has become a useful tool for education. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, Larry Page who founded Google states, “Google is really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale” (5). There is no doubt that online search engines are as smart as human, or even smarter than us. Because of this, we tend to get help from the Internet to do our work. For example, students may surf the Internet for information and use the online calculator for solving mathematical problems. It is really a beneficial

Those of us who have used Google, already know what it means when someone says, “Google that.” Google is the most popular search engine website on the Internet, with more than three billion searches per-day. Google is much more than just a search engine; Google powers Android phones, our soon to be selfless driving cars, our Internet in poor countries, and our Chromebook computers. Thanks to the help of Google, we are able to live a more robust life using all the technologies and services they provide. Although Nicholas Carr argues that, in fact, Google is to be blamed for making us the end user “stupid.” I disagree with Nicholas Carr on “Is Google making us stupid” because Google makes us more efficient, more productive, and more sociable.

Even though it is beneficial, multitasking has a couple negative effects. Lori Aratani proclaims, “One of the biggest problems about multitasking is that it is almost impossible to gain a depth of knowledge of any of the tasks you do while you are multitasking.” If people multitask while doing duties that require a persons full attention, like driving, it could to dangerous occurrences. Brandon Keim declares, “do two or more things simultaneously, and you’ll do none at full capacity.” When doing an activity, it is usually best to use as much effort as possible, but this is impractical when multitasking immoderately. In a test done by Professor Clifford Nass and colleagues Eyal Ophir and Anthony Wagner, it was found that high multitaskers were not good at filtering irrelevant information from relevant, had diminished power of mental organization, and more difficulty switching between tasks (Keim). If an individual cannot separate on-topic details and

I have recently viewed your article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” and I wanted to inform you that I do not believe in your view that the internet is negatively affecting our capacity to focus and concentrate. The internet is connecting us in a way where any information can be easily accessed and learned.

According to Google Dictionary the definition of stupid is, “Lacking intelligence or common sense.” When “The definition of stupid” is searched in Google there are about 30 million results in .61 seconds. With so much knowledge at people’s fingertips it is easy to find any information that is desired. Since all of this information is open to the public, it is silly to say that Google is making us stupid, as in “lacking intelligence or common sense.” Google is not making us stupid. In fact it even makes us smarter because of the wealth of information that it allows us to access. Google makes it easy to find simple facts and answer simple questions. It also allows common people to become experts on practically any subject by simply googling it.

Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers also found that people who are regularly multitask cannot pay attention and recall information compared to those you don’t. Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.

The question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” has been a very interesting topic these last few years. This topic has only recently come up due to the extreme amounts that humans have been relying on search engines such as Google. Nicholas Carr wrote an article on how he believes that the use of Google is affecting him and more broadly, everyone else using Google. The article makes some very strong assumptions and is a very interesting read. With little proof to back up what is being assumed in Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I decided to look for a secondary source to back up or dispute Carr’s assumptions. After a lot of research I found an article published by three researchers, Bets Sparrow, Daniel M. Wegner and Jenny Liu from Columbia University, Harvard University and The University of Wisconsin. The article is titled, “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips,” and talks about studies conducted to help further understand the effects of using complex algorithmic search engines such as Google. Comparing these two articles ideas and findings will help to distinguish whether or not Google is making us stupid.

In the article “Taking on Multitasking” by Jerome L. Rekart research from neuroscience and cognitive psychology are done to see exactly how multitasking creates negative effects on the mind and student learning. While a student is in class and tries taking notes while also on their telephone sending that “quick” text, or has their laptop open in front or to the side of them they have no choice but to have their attention split in half. “… the amount of focused attention for any single task decreases as the number of demands increases. Changes in the amount of attention for tasks are caused by changes within the brain.” (Rekart 61) It is being stated that one may think that they will be able to multitask, but the brains attention decreases as more demands come into the picture causing the student to struggle. Those who multitask in class are more likely to get more distracted even outside of class. A study was done at Stanford University to see if multitasking can actually affect the way a person pays attention