He points out, “When I mentions my troubles with reading to friends, many say they’re suffering from similar afflictions. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (315). Even though he thought he was the only one suffering from no longer having the ability to read at his former level, he learned that his friends were also having trouble. Carr continues explaining how some have totally lost the ability to read and absorb long articles on the Web or in print (316). He says how some are having a difficult time and will not read more than three or four paragraphs because it is “too much” and they will skim
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). He suggests that due to his internet usage he has a more difficult time being able to read and think critically about lengthy readings. He mentions having difficulty analyzing long articles or books and states his friends also complain of similar difficulties. He believes when a person is attempting to read an internet article and it is riddled with ads, pop-ups, and hyperlinks, it is challenging for readers to read such an article without being led or pushed onto different pages and websites. Carr relies heavily on his and his friend’s personal beliefs and fails to reference legitimate studies done in order to determine the causation of shorter attention
I feel it most strongly when I’m reading. I used to find it easy to immerse myself in a book… My mind would get caught up… and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration starts to drift after a page or two. I get fidgety… begin looking for something else to do.
The article starts by explaining the effects that technology has had on both Carr and his close friends. His friends, which he explains to be along the lines of "literary" types of people, have experienced many troubles indulging themselves into books and articles as well as they had in the past. Carr mentions how they are unable to focus on long pieces of writing and how they must fight in order to finish. He also names two bloggers experiencing the same issue; Scott Karp and Bruce Friedman. Although both bloggers blog on different topics, they had both described themselves as readers, and, through the invention of blogs and the internet, find it much harder to sit down and read through a three page article.
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.
2) The author feels that someone has been tinkering with his brain, making it change. He no longer enjoys reading a book of any length because he cannot sustain concentration on the book. 3) He feels that all the time he now spends online is affecting his abilities to concentrate. He recognizes that the Internet has been a useful tool for him to search for information and communicate. He notes that, unlike footnotes, links send you to the information rather than just refer to it.
Rebecca Laessig My Life as a Writer I don't consider myself to be the greatest writer. My grammar has a lot to be improved upon and I always seem to be at a loss for words. with that said, writing is a bit of a challenge for me. I don't hate writing, but I don't necessarily enjoy it either. in my paper, I will write about my accomplishments, routine writings, and major strengths and how they help develop my writing skills today.
I know a lot of words; I just don’t use them in my everyday conversation, thus making it more difficult to incorporate in my essay. The other parts I was dissatisfied with were my introduction and conclusion. After the revision of my paper I noticed they needed tremendous work. Therefore, I completely changed the introduction and conclusion completely to better fit my essay. Sincerely, Kimberly
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.
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.