Nicholas Carr's argument against the internet was very strong, and it persuaded me. It is very difficult for me to go against his opinion. I agree that the internet is changing us, but not in ways we think. There are long-term effects of using the internet as often as we do. He states that the internet is changing the way our brains function such as having a shorter attention span, negatively changing the way we critically think, and negatively changing our reading skills. Prior to the internet, we had patience. Before the internet, we were able to take our time and actually read, but now we skim through until we find what we are looking for. Now we are used to instant knowledge and gratification. Nicholas Carr wrote about patience in his …show more content…
When using the internet often we tend to get addicted, and when we are away from the internet all we wonder about is what we are missing out on. “We want to be interrupted because each interruption brings us a valuable piece of information. To turn off these alerts is to risk feeling out of touch, or even socially isolated," wrote Carr. I am addicted to the internet, and when I am away from it can get tough. When I do my homework I turn off my phone, and put it in another room or else I get distracted and cannot get anything done. When I am at work I see coworkers, managers, janitors, and everyone around me on their smartphones. Now there is a rule that if we caught on the floor with our cell phones we get written up, or suspended from work because instead of working people were paying less attention to the customers and more to their social media. Every day people around us get into severe, and deadly accidents because of the internet. We have the internet on our phones and that access' us to social media. At stop signs, stop lights, freeways, and school zones I see at least one person who drives with one hand, and has their cell phone in the other. Our attention span is so short that we are willing to risk the lives of ourselves, and our peers to the
Writer, Nicolas Carr, in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, expresses the search engine Google is effecting the human mind. Carr’s purpose is to covey his idea that the web changes the way humans think. He creates a pessimistic tone to his audience that spending a lot of time on the internet is bad for the mind. I don’t believe Carr made an effective argument on this article because of the tone he used, the references he provided, and how the article was laid out. Carr begins his article to the readers by acknowledging the web is messing with his brain and he is not thinking the way he used to.
In Nicholas Carr's article, “Is Google making us Stupid?” (731-745) his thesis is, “...what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.” (733) According to Carr, the Internet affects the way that we read, think, and live. It affects the way we read because through the continued use of the Internet we have been conditioned to skim through information quickly and efficiently.
It is winding up so we can't help the way that our mind works. It is being prepared to think as it does with the web as well-known apparatus. Eventually, this manner of thinking makes it harder to focus even off of the PC. It is additionally extraordinary for organizations in light of the fact that a considerable measure of the time watchers don't
He discusses people are not doing traditional reading anymore. “A form of skimming activity, hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited.” People only read the contents pages and abstracts online and they jump one page to another. Some of them may save an article, but they never go back to read it again. Due to the internet, people start to change their reading habits and they only want efficiency, I think it will make us lose the chance to gain new knowledge.
Although Carr begins with addressing a question in the title, a more specific definition of the exact problem that the argument tackles is, “Is the internet changing the way we think and behave by making us read and process information differently?” (Young, Becker, & Pike, 1970, p. 92). Carr answers this “question of fact” with his main claim that yes, the internet is changing the way we think (Young, Becker, & Pike, 1970, p. 94). His grand strategy is an equal combination of “argument by analogy” and “ethotic argument”
One of Carr’s main arguments would have to be that he sees the internet as a benefit and also very harmful in the same sense. He speaks about how “The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer” and how it has been a useful tool to him. It has made it much easier and faster to research information
Nicholas Carr proceeds to mention other people’s similar experiences to validate his thought. Nicholas Carr mentions how we have changed our way of reading in response to the internet’s quick paced environment in the next line. ‘They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited.’. Although I also have experienced times where reading lengthy text such as this article can be hard due to lack of concentration, I believe it is not the internet’s fault. If we are losing our ability to focus deeply it might have to do with the fact that we as humans are adaptive creatures.
This point does go against his statement because he can not be sure that the internet will set us back, so he also brings ideas from the other side of the argument. Carr using the other side of the argument shows that he knows and acknowledges about what else could happen and the benefits, but he still trusts in his beliefs. He also uses the printing press as another example of how he could be wrong. The printing press is very recognizable, but he brings it up because people in the present day do not know about how people used to think that it would ruin our literacy like we expect the internet to. The printing press did have the repercussions that were expected, but Carr does bring up the idea that he could be undermining the positives of how the internet would affect us.
What corrupts the change/ advancement is the treatment of it by the people. The internet was an attempt at transforming communication which was needed at that stage . The myriad purposes ( illegal ones) it is being used for now is the abuse of change. This also extends to the aspects of latent and manifest functions where the manifest function is that a number of visible positive has come from internet. On the flipside, the latent functions have 1.Made human life too digital 2.Created a superstructure of ‘surveillance’.
In Nicholas Carr’s article, “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds” (November 10, 2017) Carr discusses the implications of allowing our smartphones to have such a huge effect on our lives. Smartphones serve many purposes, and have created massive societal effects throughout the world despite being introduced roughly only two decades ago. One can converse with anyone in the world at any given moment, they can watch any television show they want, and they can receive alerts so they no longer have to put effort into remembering things themselves. However, with so much control over people’s own lives, one begins to wonder about the negative consequences of the smartphones themselves.
Everyone has a different view of technology and the internet, and how or if it is affecting us as people. In Nicolas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” he offers his views on the subject. He expresses his concerns about what humans excessive internet use could be doing to the actual functioning of their brains. Lauren Brown and Kay Sanborn, both have their own ideas on the subject some of which agree with Carr and others that disagree. I believe that the internet and technology have their pros and cons and whether we see both views or just one is up to us.
Imagine being in a room full of people, but no one talks or looks at each other. In fact, each person is plugged to a machine. This is how technology has affected society. Some people believe that technology has begun to manipulate our brains, while others claim it is taking intimacy from our relationships. The writers, Nicholas Carr and Sherry Tunkle, explain in their articles how internet use is affecting the way humans think and feel.
actually affects our brains and the way we use them. Many people would argue that technology has more cons than pros, however it’s quite the opposite. We use technology in our everyday lives and it helps us to gain more knowledge than we’ve ever been able to before. The technology we have today is one of the greatest advantages we could have. Andrea Lunsford, who wrote “Our Semi-Literate Youth?
He starts his argument by telling us the effect the internet has had on him and others he has come across. The internet has changed his train of thought and his ability to focus and concentrate. He believes our brains have been reprogramed over time to adjust to the speed and convenience of the internet. Our ability to retain and digest traditional media has also been compromised since we are used to receiving information so rapidly. This is a strong opening argument for his essay.
With the internet access reaching farther into our lives from smart watches to televising pumps at gas stations, distractions are everywhere and increasingly difficult to ignore.