Not only does Carr believe this but states others, including friends and colleagues are also experiencing this affect. Carr’s goal is to push readers to think more critically about the negative impact internet usage can have on one’s ability to read and articulate articles. Although Carr provides some anecdotal evidence it is not sufficient evidence to prove that Google is making us stupid. In completing a critical analysis of Carr’s essay I will examine both the weaknesses and strengths of his argument and provide research and literature to support my belief that Google is not in fact making us stupid. Carr begins his essay by saying “I’ve had the uncomfortable feeling that over the past few years someone, or something has been tinkering with [his] brain”(91).
Nicholas Carr is the author of the article “Is Goggle making us stupid? Google proponents say that it’s not, they say that we don’t have to use our memory as much as before. Thanks to Google we have more time now to daydream or brainstorm. Or that we can see Google as an huge external hard disk for our brain. Carr thinks that this is bullshit.
When trying to see what he is reading and understand it completely, it is hard for him because he often finds his mind wandering and wanting to do something different. He believes this is because of all the technology that we rely on, especially google. I don't think that Carr actually thinks google is making us "stupid", but just more lazy, and just causes more distractions which gets in the way of learning. In my own opinion, I think the internet, google to be specific, is a great tool for learning. Instead of reading through long texts, sometimes reading pointless information to get to the information you want, you have the specific information you need in seconds.
Even though the internet is not a brand new thing, this question was never brought up because of how slow it used to be and because of how many people had access to it compared to now. In this day and age the amount of people who use the internet heavily for a cornucopia of things is amazing. It has now become such an integral part of society that it seems it may be changing how our brains our working. When we do anything enough times it will start to affect our brain. If we lie all the time we will start to have a brain that is tailor made to make lying easier (Neulieb).
Josh Haning Mr. Rogers English Final 05/31/2011 Us Stupid Google Making Is As times change, so must our methods of dealing with them. The evolution of media has changed the way we absorb information from writing to radio to television and so on. During these trans-formative periods, skills are lost and skills are gained; but to label the internet as the catalyst for the degeneration of our intelligence goes a bit too far. In his article ”Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicholas Carr argues that, in its current form, the internet is not conducive to the kind of deep thought required when reading a long article or novel. He feels that while the internet is extremely useful, it is designed to distract as opposed to focus the mind.
Summary of “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr Nicholas Carr argues in, “Is Google Making us Stupid?” that the internet is changing the way we think. The internet looks to be slowly taking away the ability to focus very long, and is becoming the most widely used medium for information. Carr has the feeling that he no longer thinks like he used to. Reading a long book or article is no longer enjoyable to him. He attributes this feeling to the extensive use of the internet and computers, even though this usage of the internet has been to help him write.
Now it takes as much time as if the person to whom we send a letter / photos / audio and video files, sits in front of you. Internet creates a very convincing, albeit an illusory, lack of distance between people. I think I walked away from the topic, fascinated by describing the benefits of the web. So what about the children of the present generation? Does the Internet render a detrimental impact on growing and getting to know this world creature?
In what ways has it not been successful? Wikipedia is an open source collaborative online encyclopedia that changes every day says our text (Bowles 2010). And I do believe that Jimmy Wales had a great idea in starting Wikipedia. I know whenever I want to look something up, like an actor’s birthday, Wikipedia is the first website I search. The website has been successful because millions of people reference it every day, and even though it is not a credible source, it can lead you in the right direction.
Another article titled “How Has Google Affected the Way Students Learn?” by Zhai Yun Tan references an article titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr who argues that “what the [internet] seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.” The quotation shows how other authors are making this connection that humans’ access to the internet makes it substantially harder to retain information when the goal of the internet is to help people remember. In addition, the use of technology affects the way people learn material. Tan also states in her article, “How Has Google Affected the Way Students Learn?”, “[the students] tend to have a better memory of how and where to find the information -- instead of recalling the information itself.” The results portray the notion that the use of technology changes how humans retain information. The change is that before the internet, people remembered the facts rather
This fear dates back to at least the invention of movable type.” I tend to agree more with Sharkey because there are a lot of learning toold we can gain from the web. The internet is making a lot of people lazy, it takes all the work and effort out of reading, writing, and even thinking. What used to be time consuming can now be done in a shorter period of time. With just a few clicks and typed words. Most things are made much simpler by just googling and searching for words and stories.