In other words, as we get older, we have a harder time with distractions online with the Internet, Facebook, and such. Finally, some people say that using Google will make a person stupid, which is true for some, but others like me, actually use it for research and to learn as well. Experienced Internet users actually showed increased brain activity, with more advanced decision-making skills and complex reasoning. In simple terms, the inexperienced Internet users lagged behind. This is either a win or lose for using Google, it help some, but also fails others.
Carr thinks that excessive use of the internet might cause permanent changes to the way our brains work and we don’t have to remember as much, because we have RAM (Random Access Memory). Carr suggests that due to all the choices and distractions the internet provides its user whilst searching for information, it ‘turns us back to our native state of distractedness’ (Carr 373). Carr feels like due to the constant quick thinking skills that the internet demands us to have; we are losing our higher order cognitive abilities gained from focus reading such as from a book. Our ability to think in a creative and reflective way is diminishing. Carr feels the automatic way of thinking means we are ‘losing our mental discipline’ (Carr 375).
Teachers and professors think the Web is great to a certain point though. Teachers have noticed students are carried away by the Web because they are focusing less on reading. Carr agrees, “…. They don’t necessarily read a page from left to right and from top to bottom. They might instead skip around, scanning for pertinent information of interest… I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore…” (318).
Libraries used to be a place for reading and thinking, while now become a center for retrieval of information. He concludes that reading good books with patience and keep thinking independently can promote students’ writing. From this essay, I agree with some points of the author. I also believe that the Web destroys the quality of some students’ research papers but not all. As a student, I think the Web is a double-edged sword which means it both has advantages and disadvantages.
His primary arguments seemed to be examples of his own difficulties. He states “Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy…That’s rarely the case anymore.” He continues to write of how his mind starts to wander after a few pages, and he looks for something else to do; reading has become a struggle. Carr says the culprit is the Internet itself, basing his accusation on how in today’s society we can obtain information after just a few minutes on the Net. The media today has started to give us information in as limited amount of words they can allow, so we as users can skim the information we desire then move onto the next sliver of info. He believes our minds have been altered to expect all information the way the Net hands it out: “in a swiftly stream of moving particles,” as he put it.
Tevin Hutchinson 11/10/2012 English 102 Technology plays a huge role in our everyday life. I do believe that technology has made our lives easier, but it also has made us more dependent on the technology itself. When using the internet for a dictionary you could easily get distracted. Anyone can put anything on the internet, so what you find might not be accurate. Most people find that looking things up on the internet is distracting because you are already on the web so why not check YouTube for a funny video, or update your status on the social network.
Video Case Assignment #2 Questions Questions: 1. a. Some advantages of an online survey of a cross section of Internet households are lower costs, instant results, instant updates, and better responses. The disadvantages are that not all households have Internet access, if the survey is sent via email, it may be considered junk mail. Also, some people just fill out the surveys to get the promotional offer and will just fill out anything. The disadvantages in not being able to reach as many individuals due to lack of internet or lack of email accessibility, provides major negative impacts for research.
Nicholas Carr says, in his book, The Shallows, that because of his constant use of computers and the Internet, he has become unable to concentrate on one thing for long periods of time. He can no longer read books without losing interest in them after a few short pages. He doesn’t understand things at great depth, he looks for the shallow understanding of many things. I agree with what Carr said about what using the internet and technology has done to our ability to concentrate and focus on one thing and to read a book and understand things at a deeper level. Since using the Internet, I have noticed that when I look through magazines, I LOOK through them not read them.
I’m not thinking the way that I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through the long stretches of prose (p. 67).’’ It’s an agreeable statement because there are times when you are trying to concentrate on reading an article on the computer and you get distracted from what you are reading. Opening up a new hardcover book is almost impossible for me.
“ Carr is saying that since the Internet makes nearly everything readily available to us we simply are unable to focus on things for extended periods of time. We simply want to just get down and into the meat and find the portion of the prompt that has a value and information we are looking for and need nothing else, the bare minimum. The interesting fact out of all this is that researches believe that we are reading so much more in comparison to 1970’s and 1980’s when the central medium hub was the television. When one looks into what it exactly is that we are reading all the time, one discovers that it is either short blurbs from blogs or abstracts from Internet articles or text messaging conversations. Without Weisman 2 having literal in depth reading where you are able to let your mind wonder and develop its own synthesis of stories your left with this sludge writing forcing us to simply skim over the surface because if we were to go down into this sludge we would most definitely only be