In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr feels that over past few years there’s been a change in the way he thinks. Carr observes that there is something that is changing his memory and restructuring his brain’s way of thinking. Carr suggests that research that would require hours in library going through bundles of text has now ended up in few searches on google, which has degraded the power of contemplation and concentration in a human brain. Carr points out that he is not the only one with this reading problem he has other acquaintances that have similar problem of focusing on large pieces of writing. Juxtaposing with writers last comments he mentions bloggers like Scott Karp and Bruce Friedman who were once avid readers and now have completely lost their ability to concentrate and contemplate the long articles they read. Carr also asserts that only anecdotes don’t prove anything. To prove his point he examines the study done by scholars from University of London which concludes that people who use computer logs to research shows signs of skimming rather than depth reading. …show more content…
Nietzsche writing “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.” (qtd. Nietzsche 18). Moving on with the theory, Carr then discusses the work of sociologist Daniel bell which concludes that the tools we use instead of our mental and physical capacities we inevitably begin to take on qualities of those technologies (Carr 18). Similarly internet is incorporating our other intellectual technologies like calculating, typewriting and our radio and tv. Carr further points out on how Nets influence have affected the traditional media and expectations of audiences. He give example of New York times that how they have to write article abstracts and have to play by the new media
In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicolas Carr analyzes the dramatic affects that technologies have been having on our brains. The short summary, the Net is making us all mindless zombies in Carr’s mind, but he is not the only who feels that way. His long dragged out article is abundantly full of meaning examples, personal opinions, and hard facts on the drastic changes the Net has done to our brains. Carr starts his articles with the death of super computer, HAL, from the movie A Space Odyssey.
In Nicholas Carr’s writing, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” mentions multiple examples of why the internet and the simplicity of looking up and getting exactly what we were looking for are causing a drop in the way we think and the intelligence of our minds. Carr explains that he was once a huge reader and could comprehend ten to fifteen-page articles easily, but the directness of the internet had dulled his brain that he could not read a few paragraphs before he gave up and his mind started drifting off into the emptiness of his brain. Carr mentions that the Net is being the universal medium causing information that is read and learned go in one ear and out the other. Carr defends his positions by adding multiple examples showing that the Net
In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the author suggests that modern technology is changing the way him and other people think. He argues that, in the past, it was much easier to engage in long readings. Now, he claims, reading is more challenging and people are more likely to skim a passage rather than fully absorb the information due to excessive use of the internet (313-314). Carr uses Friedrich Nietzsche’s relationship with his typewriter as an example to express that with every new technology, he warns, the human mind is vulnerable to a change in structure (319). Carr observes and suggests that the more people use and rely on computers, the more the human mind essentially becomes a form of artificial intelligence
Rhetorical Analysis In the article “Is Google Making us Stupid?”, author Nicholas Carr expresses his idea that the internet is taking over society and our thinking process. Google is affecting our abilities to read books, longer articles, and even older writings. Carr believes that we have become so accustomed to the ways of the internet, and we are relying on Google 's ability to sort through the details for us so we don 't have to, in order to get the information we find necessary more efficiently. He finds that this process has become almost too handy, and that it is corrupting us from becoming better educated.
In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he states that our minds are changing because of the time we spend online. He explains how not only does the media just supply the information to the users, it also morphs the thoughts that flow in people’s minds. Previous habits such as reading are slowly being affected, but only few have noticed the change. For instance, when surfing the web people skim the articles they’re reading and merely go from link to link. Carr talks about how easy it is to research and find things on the internet within minutes maybe even seconds.
not so much because the way I read has changed… but because the way I think has changed.” (Carr, 557 & 558) Nicholas also uses Bruce Friedman, another blogger, as an example. Bruce makes a statement “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a long article on the Web or in print.” (Carr, 558) Bruce can no longer read a blog that is more than three or four paragraphs because it is too much to absorb so he decides just to skim it. (Carr, 558) With these examples in mind, it shows that many people understand the depth of this problem because the internet is affecting people worldwide, especially
He admits “The web has been a godsend to me as a writer.” He then goes on to list all of the ways that it has helped him in his profession. Carr says that he is able to research in minutes, and he no longer has to spend as much time looking for information. He shows that he too relies on the internet. If he claims that the internet has changed the way he thinks because he spends so much time on it, the reader may then begin to think about whether their behaviors and critical thinking abilities have changed from extended internet usage as
Nicholas Carr’s article titled Is Google Making us Stupid was written to deliver an urgent message to the reader. Carr’s purpose for writing this article was to inform the masses of the potential dangers in how new technologies change the ways our minds work. He is trying to warn us how writing has reduced our capability to remember details in our heads, just like the internet has been able to change the way our brains store, acquire, and handle information. The author makes the argument that Carr makes a reference to the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. In his reference he tells the reader about the HAL computer who uncannily perfectly expresses human emotion, as it shares its concern that its data banks and artificial brain is being shut down
1. Nicholas Carr’s argument in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” challenges Thompson’s argument which was that the internet is making people smarter by helping people improve their writing skills when they read other people’s work online. However, Carr believes with so much information available, the internet had changed our “mental habits” in a negative way. The internet has people using “ a form of skimming activity” which decreases how much people read to “no more than one or two pages of an article or book” (Carr 2) before they change to different site. Carr complicates Boyd’s view on how algorithms are filtering what people see on their screen and those who are not digitally literate would be clueless of this.
In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid? ” , Nicholas Carr talks about how the internet has affected the way most people process the information that they could found online. The title of the article is the most obvious clue for the argument that he is trying to make. He also points out how internet is our primary source to find the information that we are looking for, but the side effect is affecting our basic ability to read long pieces of information such as books. Google is a well-known website that allows to anyone instant access to kind of information, which can be really helpful if the user knows how to use and manipulate it.
Ever thought of blaming your laziness on what you may be addicted to? Technology is something available in many forms, but can it really determine your thinking skills after using so? In Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid?, he expresses his position on what many people do not consider when reading online. Carr proves to the readers that our minds start shifting on how we read, from readers who want to take in every word of information to a reader who skims through and grasps bits and pieces. The Internet is changing us in a way we never thought of noticing.
He writes about a feeling of a change of thought process he gets when he reads. Reading books or lengthy articles came easily to Carr, but now he cannot stay focused on what he reads for more than a few pages. He believes his struggle to concentrate on long texts originates from spending too much time online, saying that any kind of research he needs can be found and fulfilled in minutes. Carr also explains that reading online has been converted to skimming pages and searching for summaries of his desired info, instead of reading full length articles. When an author, such as Carr, can directly relate to the subject, it makes his writing much more sincere and
Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in 2008 to the Atlantic magazine brings forth the argument of how modern technology, like in the past, has affected us into changing the way we think, and go about taking in information. Throughout the article he supports arguments with personal accounts of colleagues as well as past accounts in advancements in technology that shaped modern day. Carr’s article begins with dialogue from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in which he relates with the supercomputer HAL as it loses its mind when Bowman disconnects its memory circuits. Carr like many of us today states that when reading he now finds himself distracted, unable to concentrate and make connections with the text.
After reading the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, our group came to a decision that we agreed with Carr. Google is, in fact, making us stupid. Throughout the article, Carr emphasizes how our minds are changing as a result of the time we spend online. Throughout the article, Carr makes the argument that the internet has affected how human beings process and retain information. The problem with the internet that Carr addresses are that media does not just supply information to the users, it also shapes the thoughts that flow in the people's minds.
Nicolas Carr, an acclaimed writer in both business and technology, argues in “"Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in 2008, that the internet is altering the way humans focus. In his article, Carr states “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages” (Carr). Using first person personal experience this permits readers to presuppose that everyone is justly and effortlessly exposed to the impacts of the internet. Additionally accrediting himself, a prosperous and educated writer, Carr adds reliability and support towards his argument demonstrating that a literate, knowledgeable man can be susceptible to the effects of the internet. Scientific studies have been done which support the theory that the internet is deteriorating