Nicholas Carr in The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains (2010) asserts that, “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. 108) Carr explains this quote throughout the entire book. He continues by adding real world examples and data from other studies. From all of the information that is gathered for this book, he creates the idea that internet has drastically changed culture and brought forward new ways of thinking that will exist for many years to come. Niholas Carr concludes that the way the net has changed thinking reduces how people can concentrate on a single piece of information, but enhances the fact that people can take in vast amounts of data. The first point that Carr makes is the evolution of technology. Using the internet is taking over, and could possibly completely replace books, and other forms of old literature. He supports this in his book by saying, “No doubt the connectivity and other features of e-books will bring new delights and diversions. The cost will be further weakening, if not a final severing of the intimate intellectual attachment between the lone writer and the lone reader. (Carr, 2010, Pg.118) …show more content…
116) By this he means that no matter how much attention or concentration someone may put into something while working on the internet, something will more than likely sidetrack and prevent the person from completing the task. Shopping, social media, videos, and messages are all things capable of breaking someone’s concentration while trying to work
Our concentration and contemplative skills have diminished thanks to our internet usage. Carr states that: “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information.” Information is easily accessible and no longer requires deep research. You can easily find the idea of something on the internet by skimming it. Carr believes that our mind can be shaped by using the internet daily and could be completely different than those who read books/magazines/newspapers etcetera.
The internet is one of the most powerful and complex pieces of technology ever to be assembled. With this power, the internet can radiate some seismic waves into the way we live our lives. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he illustrates and explains his personal opinion and evidence from others to display the changes and effects the internet has on the world and the people in it. He goes into and explains how the internet is changing the way we read and take in information using his own personal experience with reading books today. He also shows that the internet itself is causing the world to change and adapt to its presence, causing essentially any aspect of the world to be engulfed by the internet and transform according
Carr could have not said it any better, “what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away at my capacity for concentration and contemplation.” It has immobilized my ability to think on my own and read in-depth. Once again, technology has wiggled its way back into my life. Since reading this article, I have caught myself becoming dependent on the Internet. If I ever have questions,I automatically take out one of my devices and look up the question.
In the first section of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr he emphasizes the downs to the very powerful internet that we use everyday. He explains how this era of the internet predicts an age of narcissism and mediocrity. Carr gives examples of how we quest after every new technology medium, how the medium alters humans, and all the technology that has shuffled and led to the internet. Carr uses the author of Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man saying “ whenever a new medium comes along we are attracted to it.
The internet has changed the way we live our daily lives. It changed the way we socialize and has impacted the way we communicate. In the New York Times article, “Addicted to Distractions” by Tony Schwartz, it discusses how the author realized that his addiction to the internet prevented him from creating personal goals that will benefit him. For example, our author found himself one evening reading the same paragraph repetitively before concluding that he just can’t simply focus on the content of the book. This horrified the author because he once found pleasure in reading books, and now instead of reading them he finds himself spending countless hours on the internet.
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.
The article “Mind Over Mass Media”, written by Professor Steven Pinker, describes the impact of media on human lives and brains. Pinker illustrates the benefits people gain from using the worlds quickly increasing technology and media. Pinker suggests that today’s technology such as, PowerPoint, Google, and other forms of social media can actually enhance and bring more intelligence to the mind, instead of being detrimental. Critics believe that the many different forms of media can lower intelligence. However, Pinker declares that scientists are using all of this technology everyone else is using, and are still discovering new things.
Nicholas Carr in “The Shallows” (2010) asserts that, “The Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use. Carr supports this assertion by telling us that we’re often oblivious to everything else going on around us. The real world recedes as we process the flood of symbols and stimuli coming through our devices” (118). The writer concludes that the resulting self-consciousness, even at times, fear magnifies the intensity of our involvement with the medium. Carr makes a direct tone to explain how the exception of alphabets and number systems, are so powerful to our brains and can alter our minds.
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. Nicholas Carr gives himself credibility by stating that he knows what’s going on in his own mind, this is where he is uses ethos.
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.
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.
Our way of thinking is beginning to change to the way that computers do. Advancements are made everyday. These new advancements are attempting to make life in general easier for everyone. Nicholas Carr makes the claim that, “as the internet because our primary source of the information it is affecting our ability to read books and other long narratives.” Carr suggests that using the internet is altering the way that our minds operate.
Instead the readers are receiving information all about cons of using internet. Also, for instances, Carr failed to provide the reality of today’s internet
This technology has changed everything in people knowledge. According to Zaryn Dentzel (2014), cited by How the Internet Has Changed Everyday Life, after the internet revelations human existence upside down in his word and he mentions that this technology has changed the meaning of communication. It has become a part of everyday life and people just far from one or two