The meaningful phrase, “I can feel it.” Carr can feel it too. In fact, many of his friends and one popular blogger can all feel the tolls of the Net rewiring their brains. Concentrating on a long book or article used to be easy for Carr
In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008), the Pulitzer Prize finalist claims that the evolving age of technology, particularly the Internet, is damaging our cognitive attention. Carr initially presents his argument through a series of anecdotes that make the topic more understandable; thereafter, he backs up his main points with numerous different types of supportive evidence. Relatable stories of how the technologic advancements are causing a neural retrogression amongst the general population are provided in order to show what the Internet is really doing to our minds and hopefully inform us about the dangerous path we are on. Carr’s use of both academic and casual language entertains the audience with a complex and
In Nicholas Carr's article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” the author argues that the Internet has become a new form of acquiring knowledge in people’s lives. Additionally, the author supports his own statement by demonstrating that within just a few clicks, one can instantly gain any information or article online without the need to visit and search a physical library. However, even though the Internet ameliorates the quality and quantity of resources to gain knowledge, he believes that as the source of knowledge is replaced by a convenient web page, society becomes easily distracted. In Clive Thompson's article, “Smarter Than You Think.
Carr acknowledges that human brain has been adapted to the technological progression. He, to begin with, identifies the issues that the readers who normally read the traditional printed books cannot concentrate on reading and critical thinking
For example, Carr states that the internet is affecting people's ability to concentrate: “And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (737). Carr validates his experience as a result of using the Internet to that of others: “When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances-literary types, most of them- many say they're having similar experiences” (737). He later provides the name of Bruce Friedman, a regular blogger, who has experienced similar difficulties. While Carr does provide the experiences of numerous other people to support his assumptions, further scientific investigations would help validate his
Carr examines several key points in his articles that help assert his thesis. First, that he and his other literature based colleagues are having issues with concentrating on long stretches of text, and he finds himself drifting away, and having difficulty with returning to the same long stretch of the text he was just reading. Carr argues that “I feel as
Carr also shares that most of his literary friends and known bloggers have a hard time with attentiveness and are having similar experiences as Carr. This indicates that he is not only talking about something he is experiencing, but an issue that is going on in today’s society.
“My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing.” Nicholas Carr, a noted blogger and Pulitzer Prize winner, claims this in his article, Is Google Making us Stupid? He argues that humanity has adapted to a different type of thinking that is affecting individuals. Specifically, he feels as though he can no longer progress through a book with having difficulties concentrating. Only a few pages at a time are all he can get through before he feels the need to do other work.
The Internet has made it a lot harder, even for Literature Majors, to stay concentrated on and finish one piece of reading in a sitting. Carr states that he feels as if someone is changing the way he thinks. He goes on to say that he used to “spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.”
Carr starts of the essay by sharing his and other people’s experience with losing the ability to focus deeply. He dwells further into this by
The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle,” (Carr, Nicholas). Carr’s negative attitude toward the issue is displayed through a
By doing this the evidence from the other writers keeps the reader drawn in to show the effects the internet has on us. Carr says that the articles he gained information from said, “It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense”; that the way we read now is what you would call ‘skimming’ or reading “horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins”. When reading on the internet, people have stopped reading entire articles, instead we bounce from site to site until we gather the information we need. Carr puts this information there so the reader can relate to it. In the article, he uses to support his argument, he agrees how people, lose attention rather rapidly when reading on the internet, and it is causing people to lose concentration when looking at physical readings.
Response to Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?’ Nicholas Carr forewarns of an ever growing trend that links how our brains process and concentrate on information and the Internet in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He then proceeds to reweave the tale woven by Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey, telling of how the protagonist removes the “brain” of a highly intelligent supercomputer named HAL.
Now [he] zip(s) along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” This is Carr’s attempt to demonstrate how he used to be fully immersed in a book, but now it’s no longer possible due to the Internet. He now just skims the readings and doesn’t get to see what is below the surface. Another example that proves his point is when the writer, Maryanne Wolf, describes on how we read more than in 1960’s and 70’s, “[b]ut it’s a different kind of reading;” a type of reading that “may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading.” By providing such evidence aimed towards the younger audience, this example can
He supports this argument by citing a study conducted by students who have attended The University College London. The study proved to us that we no longer thoroughly read material, rather we just skim over most of what we read. From the convoluted works of the late 19th century, to the material of present day, the way we write and comprehend
