He compares and contrasts how his life was with the Web and without it. For example, “Just as Microsoft Word had turned me into a flesh-and-blood word processor, the Internet, I sensed, was turning me into something like a high-speed data-processing machine, a human HAL (325). The Web has changed him in such a way that he felt like a machine. He wanted to stay connected, therefore, he would yearn to check his e-mail, click links, or explore on Google. He noticed the Net was having a much stronger influence over him than his PC ever had (324).
Cody Janowski 12/2/10 English Comp Assignment 4 The Internet has undoubtedly changed the way people live their lives. Any information we could possibly want- and more- is at our disposal, and has made life for us incredibly convenient and easy; some, however, might say too easy. One of these people is Nicholas Carr, author of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” featured in the July/August 2008 edition of The Atlantic. Carr argues that the Net seems to be slowly demolishing our abilities to concentrate on one subject, as well as contemplate information, based on the ease of access to everything the Internet provides today. I agree with Carr to an extent; however I would say that his theory most certainly does not apply to everyone.
Carr states, “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind,” (Carr, 59). Ever since the Net has been created, it has become more and more powerful and popular with time. I do not necessarily feel that “Google is Making Us Stupid,” but believe that it is changing the way we think and how we go about retrieving information. Search engines such as Google can be very efficient and concise, but this is not always a good thing. Using the internet has changed the way many people read.
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.
Nicholas Carr's article "Is Google Making us Stupid?" explores the social and cognitive effects of the internet on the twenty first century. By his interpretation, the internet has had a positive impact on civilization, especially academia as "research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes" (para. 3). The internet also serves as a boon to literacy rates as "we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s" as more people choose to use the text based internet.
Because of this, there has been a massive effect on the amount of socialising between friends and family; using technology in online social messaging websites such as Bebo, MSN, Facebook and many more. Through these social messaging websites, more and more people can interact with their friends and family all over the world. An expert professor David Crystal has supported the idea of web-based messages and disagrees with the view that slang and contractions leads to a lower English standard of language. Although this is a benefit to most people, it has been abused by some people by overusing it and different ‘language’ while typing, which cause differentiation in the way we speak and the way we write. The
Although the computer is fantastic in many ways and has helped improve civilization’s way of living, have people all over the world come to rely on this device too much? Computers make life far easier and many people living today probably could not function if they were sent back in time before computers were created. Although people are just taking advantage of the presence of this technology, people need to realize how to use it responsibly and not to overuse it. Computers let people communicate with each other in the blink of an eye. This revolutionary way of communication can help build relationships and bonds between people.
I feel that few websites are created with the intent to entertain or inform their audiences anymore. Many people use them as a stream of revenue through the companies advertising on their sites. Facebook did not become a billion dollar company by offering people a free website to connect with their “friends”. It was the businesses investing their money to market their product or service, creating a brand for themselves. Every day, I hear about a scandal or crime involving media technology.
In this new age of technology with social networks, email, and the world wide web it has become increasing easier to speak up when a grotesque event is happening somewhere in the world. People know about it and want to do something. Throughout history examples of this have been evident; one of the most recent coming to mind is Kony 2012. They started out has something no one knew about but it became known and now everyone wants to help the cause. Why not continue this trend!
Throughout all these years, the net is becoming the universal source of information for most of the people and the way the media is presented gives us a big reading deficiency that is increasing every time. Nevertheless Carr want us to realize that we probably will be reading more today than an average person did in the 1970s or 1980s but the way we read now produces a different type of thinking, a poorer one. Web advantages and the use of citing other authors The author recognized the huge advantages of using the internet to do researches and finding vital and valuable information. Being more specific, he seems to love all those benefits that a laptop can provide and he also states that most of the time he uses search engines to complete his tasks. By mentioning and quoting a lot of successful writers and bloggers, he expect us to understand that the loss of memory and attention is something that can easily happen to everyone; even those who spend their time reading a lot of information, they will suffer the same consequences if the media is not presented by an auspicious medium.