Do we depend on the Internet to answer all of our questions? Nicholas Carr, an American author, wrote “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in 2008 in The Atlantic, and he argues about the effects of the Internet on literacy, cognition, and culture. Carr begins his argument with the ending scene of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Carr believes that we depend on the Internet more than just looking up the answers in the book ourselves. He is trying to prove that our generation is consumed by the Internet. In addition to this, I feel his argument is effective because he builds credibility with personal facts, using statistics, and making emotional appeals throughout the essay. He gives many details and examples to backup and support his argument.
Another viewpoint he mentioned is the internet and how the machine are designed for searching programs, and finding what interest people. This creation of the internet was to create information for people to access. Carr believes that Google and other search engines are trying to replace the human brain, and the way we think. He also, fears the internet will one day replace the use for the human
Technology has defied all odds as it has been progressing over the years.At the same time, technology has become a hindrance in schools. There is a proposition for our school to participate in the National Shut Down Your Screen Week. This would be a great opportunity for us to take a break from technology and develop some social skills that allow us to connect with each other and not through a screen.
The internet has become a necessity for many people these days, it provides quick information and is a primary source of knowledge. In the article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid", the author Nicholas Carr, is describing the effects that technology has on the human brain. Carr begins with a scene from the end of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, where supercomputer HAL is being disconnected by astronaut Dave Bowman who was sent to space on a deadly mission by the machine. The author can relate his personal experiences with the scene where Dave admits he as felt someone tinkering his brain and not being able to think like he used to because of supercomputer HAL. Carr cannot focus
He includes a quote from the movie, 2001: Space Odyssey, which states “‘Dave my mind is going’ HAL says, forlornly. ‘I can feel it. I can feel it.”’ (Carr 556). With this quote at the beginning, the reader automatically starts thinking about why he included this. What he explains next quickly answers any questions. Carr relates this feeling of a mind changing to him. He states “My mind isn’t going- so far as I can tell- but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used I think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading.” (Carr 557). This is an effective use of pathos because it draws the reader to question whether or not their way of thinking is changing as well. Carr is trying to create this connection, so the audience feels exactly what he is feeling and is successful at doing so. Carr expresses that his mind and how he thinks changed due to the new phenomenon “the Internet.” He proves his point by explaining that the internet has reprogrammed our minds to want everything quick and complete. To me, this was effective because once the reader thinks about it, they start realizing how accurate this actually is. By successfully, including pathos he interacts with the any type of audience and has them mentally
In today’s society, technology plays a very important role in its ability to function, it helps people find information, communicate with others far away and provides entertainment. In “Fahrenheit 451”, a book written by Ray Bradbury, a dystopian future where books have been made illegal is presented. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, raises many questions about technology and its effects on society. It’s quite evident that we have become quite dependent on technology due to our overconsumption of it.
Nowadays, the internet is the biggest marketing and media tool that people can use today. It can have various effects on people’s daily life ranging from bad to beneficial. In the essay “Is Google making us stupid” by Nicholas Carr writes about how internet usage in the 21st century is changing people’s reading habit and a cognitive concentration. Particularly, he emphasizes on Google’s role in this matter and its consequences on making people machine like. Carr also stated that the online reading largely contributes to people’s way of reading a book. He is extremely focused on the online reading’s distraction that most affects people’s mind.
Carr’s opening paragraph really grabs your attention, by using quotes from the movie A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick’s. ““Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.” I can feel it, too.” His use of appealing words and connection to a widely known movie in the early 2000s; draws in the audience he wants to attract. Though his audience isn’t completely clear, one can assume them to be middle aged adults; the people who can still remember a time before computers were widely used.
William Badke assessment of the article by Nicholas Carr “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” has a unique twist. As an associate librarian at Trinity Western University, he feels online search engines like Google or Yahoo restricts profound thought and retrains comprehension. Badke states “we can keyword search right to the best stuff without reading much of the book itself.” (online) He accepts research by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan called iBrain, which submits the brain, adapts to the surrounding environment. IBrain coins the phrase “digital native” and “digital immigrants (newcomers to the digital world) to compare how the brain operates in each setting. This research is producing a new generation, Net generation or “IBrain generation” causing
In the book The Shallows author Nicholas Carr explains how he believes that technology is taking over everything and changing the way we think and process information. As a reader I also believe that technology is changing the way we process information because of all the examples he uses to prove his point. In the different chapters he gives examples from past historians and psychologists to explain why he believes the things he does, Carr also interviews college professors and doctors to see if they have noticed a difference in themselves or in patients of theirs with the same problem, and lastly throughout the book and on the internet there are multiple reviews on the opinions of the technology.
In the essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that utilization of the internet has an adverse effect on our way of thinking and functioning in everyday life. Whether it be reading a newspaper, or scrolling through Facebook, internet media has forever stamped its name in our existence.
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.
He utilizes ethos, psychological evidence, and shared experiences of himself and authorities. Concluding his essay, he refutes Google’s glorification of technology and ambition for information by saying that the Google is trying to collect information about people and to feed them advertisement just for its economic interest. He also adds that there is a countertendency to deplore the development of technology. He cautiously shows his skepticism by arousing an image of the destruction of future human knowledge. In this digital age, people have seen many benefits of the Net, which made their browsing experience much faster and easier. With just one fingertip, they are opened to the access to any information sources they need. However, as he throws his question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Carr suggests that this efficiency and immediacy make people lose their critical thinking skills and their proficiency at reading and
“Is Google Making Us Stupid” is an article written by Nicholas Carr, where Carr tries to make the point that our ability to read books and other long pieces of information is being affected by the internet's ability to become our primary source of information. Carr States (2008) “And what the net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation”(p.610).Even though the internet offers a highly efficiencient way of knowledge, it also melts our brain's ability to learn by experience. Carr starts by sharing a problem with the us about how he can hardly focus anymore when reading more the three or four pages. Carr goes on to prove how information on the internet is meant to be consis, and meant to get the point
In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr discusses the internet’s effect on human thought. This is perfectly shown in Chapter Nine which is titled “Search, Memory.” Carr speaks on how the internet effects long term memory. The chapter quotes one of the smartest minds in the history of Western Civilization, Socrates. Socrates is quoted, “Writing down their thoughts and reading the thoughts of others had written down, they become less dependent on the contents of their own memory.” (The Shallows, Pg. 173) Socrates was onto something, just not in the right in the right part of history. With all of the knowledge available online and just a few key strokes away, there comes a loss of the long term memory. Why retain any knowledge if it just a hyperlink away?