Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

Hoang Huy Huynh

Erin Flewelling

ENGLISH 205

3/12/15

We are becoming Users of Internet Internet has become a great tool for our use in the pursuit of knowledge. Search engine like Google has granted us the ability to instantly access millions of information with just a few clicks. However, some people believe that instead of making us smarter, Internet is making us stupider. Nicholas Carr, an American writer who has published books and articles on many technology subjects, believes internet is replacing knowledge with information, and contemplation with efficiency. In his article titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Published on The Atlantic (July 2008), claims that the Internet is affecting people’s ability to read books, to concentrate and

He supports his claims by providing personal experiences as an Internet users, by presenting published studies from numerous of creditable sources, and finally by reflecting on how people will be more of a machine in the future as the Internet becomes the primary source of information. Carr’s purpose is to provide a thoughtful reflection on how technology is shrinking humans’ attention span and changing their form of intelligence in order to provoke a stimulated argument about the consequences of technology changing the way people think and act. He uses a reflective tone for an audience of modern people that is becoming increasingly dependent on online sources for information. The argument that Carr points out is a subject that need to be essentially considered as more and more people are becoming dependent on the Internet for quick information. In this essay, I will analyze the rhetorical strategies employed by Carr in order to promote his argument. As more and more people are becoming dependent on the Internet, the manipulation of technology

He uses a published study of online research habits, conducted by scholars from University College London. The study suggests that people “typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would ‘bounce’ out to another site.” This use of resource not only strengthen his strategies of logos, but it also proves his point that we’re not reading in a ‘traditional sense,’ and that the way we read now is what we would call ‘skimming’ or reading “horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins.” Carr also uses the strategy of pathos to show the manipulation of Internet on the human brain. In another part of the article, he says that he “once was a scuba diver in the sea of words. 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