Is Google Making Us Stupid

646 Words3 Pages
Dr. Elaine Cullen EngC 1101 #35 Rhetorical Essay October 27, 2014 In Nicholas Carr’s persuasive essay Is Google Making Us Stupid? he gives us a look in to how technology has affected us has human beings and the way we work and think. However, many of his arguments aren’t much of arguments at all. Carr’s stance on technology is indecisive as he bounces back and forth between appreciating it and being skeptical of it. More importantly, Carr never seems to answer his own question, Is Google Making Us Stupid? Because of Carr’s indecisiveness and lengthy paragraphs that don’t seem to relate to his end argument, his writing seems to leave more questions than answers. Carr spent much of the essay speaking just on the history of technology alone; from typewriters to the printing press. However, he never seems to connect them to his back to his original question. He seems to be taking us on this technological journey, only to then point out that we should be “skeptical of his skepticism” (Carr 100). Carr’s writing has an urgent sense of worry for our level of retention and intelligence, but then he seems to go back on what he has said. “Maybe I’m just a worrywart” (Carr 100). He gives us an abundance of information on history, technology and intelligence (much of which isn’t related), only to build up to the fact that maybe is argument is not valid. In doing this, he is confusing his reader and leaves us questioning the point of his writing. Nicholas Carr’s stance on technology seems to be unclear, even to him. In one paragraph he states that the internet is a wonderful, stating that it is “a godsend to me as a writer” (Carr 92). He then turns right around and states that the internet “is chipping away at my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 92). Carr even goes on and quotes people like doctors, professors and his literary friends on how the
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