Nicholas Carr in The Shallows (2010) asserts that the internet is changing the very way people live today. Carr supports this assertion by providing key points of how the Internet changed so much like how he did in this quote “With the exception of alphabets and number systems, the Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use. At the very least, it’s the most powerful that has come along since the book” (Carr, 2010, pg.118). The writer concludes that everyday life in the modern age includes the use of the Internet. The writer establishes a direct tone to readers that the way people think is changing due to the Internet.
The brain is not the straightforward machine it once was thought to be; it is actually quite flexible. different regions of the brain are associated with different mental functions, but the cellular components do not form permanent structures or play rigid roles. The brain is able to change with experiences, circumstances, and needs so now that the Internet is so influential today the way people think is often changed.
Today even the Internet is an extension of the human will. People can express their thoughts throughout the Net on social media. We can find things to learn from on the Net like Google. People can even manage to search for things on the Internet to help reshape the environment. The Internet is just so involved in our daily lives that people are constantly relying on it.
He backs up one of his claims that the internet is affecting humanity's cognitive abilities by using the opinion of a scholarly neuroscientist from the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, saying that, “The adult mind is very plastic, it has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions” (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).
In our day and time, using the internet as our main source of information is very common. In Nicholas Carr’s essay on “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he discusses how the internet is redeveloping the way each human thinks, feels, and learns. Carr feels the internet is taking over how we, as people, are transforming the way we comprehending different subjects. The internet is an essential part of this world and everyone’s lifestyle who has access to it. There has been a generous amount of reliance upon the internet doing a variety of tasks that, in the past, others had to do for themselves.
The internet really has affected the circuits in our brains. The author describes our memory, how our brains are being trained, and how attached we are. People do not memorize anything anything any more because we can look it up now. We search everything we question nowadays. The author says memorization is a “waste of time.”
As earlier stated, over the years people have become intact with technology thus society adapted to technology in their lives, making their lives easier. “Our use of the Net will only grow, and its impact on us will only strengthen, as it becomes even more present in our lives.” (92) The
The regions of our brain impacted by our internet use are also associated with our emotions. Carr writes, “now it is true that the areas of our brain are associated with different mental structures, but they do not play ‘rigid roles’”(29). Indeed, this is true. The areas of our brain responsible for our cognitive function are also responsible for our moods. Central to his argument is that all of this is possible because of neuroplasticity or the ability for new neurological connections to be formed or lost throughout our lives.
Carr believe the internet changes the way we think. In my opinion, Carr story was to influence, not persuade. In Nicholas Carr’s essay, “Is google making us
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 Shallows Nicholas Carr gives examples from past historians and psychologists to explain why he believes the things he does.
Rhetorical Analysis of Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid? We are at a time where technology is widespread; it has become a part of our everyday life leading to advantages and disadvantages. Technology nowadays has become the most important topic to discuss and everyone has developed their own unique opinion. In Nicholas Carr’s article published in 2008, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” he argues that as technology progresses people’s mentality changes.
In the essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr, he mentioned that the technology is decreasing our abilities and increasing our dependence on sources such as internet. Carr describes how the internet is affecting the human brain and changing our minds. He explained that the internet is affecting the way that people receive and store information. Carr’s main idea is that extensive computer use is changing the human mind, mostly in negative ways because spending too much time on the internet can cause people to become lazy. He thought that the internet is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.
Imagine being in a room full of people, but no one talks or looks at each other. In fact, each person is plugged to a machine. This is how technology has affected society. Some people believe that technology has begun to manipulate our brains, while others claim it is taking intimacy from our relationships. The writers, Nicholas Carr and Sherry Tunkle, explain in their articles how internet use is affecting the way humans think and feel.
Brainless.com: Rhetorical Strategies in Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” 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.
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 Influence of 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. Carr explains to us that the internet is a tool used every single day in today’s society, but also makes most of us complacent with the ease of having the world at our fingertips.
In only a couple of decades, technology has imbedded itself into people’s lives, to the point it would be difficult to live without using technology. In Neil Postman’s speech “Informing Ourselves to Death,” he explains how not all technology is being used for what its original purpose was, and how people are starting to drown in the useless information technology gives. Postman also makes the claim, “And therefore, in a sense, we are more naïve than those in the Middle Ages, and more frightened, for we can be made to believe almost anything” (5). Though Postman gave this speech about thirty years ago, this accurately describes modern society. Technology was meant to help people learn and improve their lives, but it has instead increased the naivety of the world.