Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

In his essay Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr argues that our dependence on the Internet changes the way we read and think. He includes his own personal testimony to support this claim, as well as others’ descriptions, including several friends, and bloggers that Carr quote. While he lacks scientific proof supporting his claim, multiple testimonies support his claim that the internet has changed the way people think. However, Carr views this negatively, saying that “I’m not thinking the way I used to think… my concentration often starts to drift… I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text” (633-634). Carr sees this change as dangerous; he has lost his ability to immerse himself in his reading. Fortunately for Carr, he is a “Digital Immigrant.” Unlike the youth of this generation, referred to as “Digital Natives,” the Internet has merely stunted his practice of deep reading, whereas the Digital Natives never learned

Likewise, if children today do not learn the act of deeply reading, their capacity to deeply think may be stunted. However, feral children such as Genie were also victims of abuse and solitary confinement for most of their early years, so their inability to learn language may be also the result of damage caused by abuse. According to Jay Shurley, a specialist in social isolation, says that “solitary confinement is, diabolically, the most severe punishment” (Genie). With a lack of socialization, Genie never learned how to communicate, and as a result, was hampered in this way for the rest of her life. So if a child was never exposed to deep reading, is it possible that they will not be as proficient in these skills, since they were not acquired during the years of major brain