Does the internet make you smarter or dumber? There is a complex debate over the internet and whether it is making society smarter or dumber for that matter. The debate focuses on the internet and the intellectuality of individuals and if the internet hinders or is progressing society as a whole. Some critics argue that the internet contributes to the decline of our mental state. On the other hand, others argue the internet promotes and encourages literacy.
Could technology hurt education or, is technology the revolution to education? The views on education and massive open online courses of Postman and Friedman are very contrasting and will be further discussed in this essay. According to Thomas Friedman, MOOCs are potentially the most essential addition to present-day education. That by having a MOOC available to those in under developed worlds it will open powerful minds to solve more of our frequent problems. Even though Neil Postman’s book, The End of Education, was written well before MOOCs were available it is still evident what his opinions on them would be.
I wanted to be connected” (Carr 16). The way that technology has changed and developed the internet has made Carr want to stress the fact that although technology is very useful, it can be very harmful to peoples’ brain in a way that it affects a person’s deeper level of thinking. Section II:The Author’s Background Nicholas Carr is a columnist, member of the Encyclopedia Britannica's editorial board of advisors, as well as an executive editor. Carr writes about technology, culture, and economics which have made his books New York Times Bestsellers in addition to being a 2011 Pulitzer Prize nominee. Aside from The Shallows, Carr has written two other influential books called The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google and Does IT Matter?
He has represented the Internet as the answer to all of society's worries. In both these articles both writers provide very convincing evidence weather on how the Internet is making us more brilliant or is it turning us brainless. In Nicholas Carr’s Article “Does the Internet Make You Dumber?” he argues the fact that the Internet indeed does make you “dumber,” almost scaring its reader to stay away from web usage. He takes a more scientific approach talking about how the Internet allows us to have a mass amount of information at any time, but with all that info comes distractions. He goes on about how those distractions hurt our mental thinking.
The world today, in most cases, is characterized by the last statement in the previous paragraph. Technology has come to be a catalyst in society today. Indeed, in some cases this technology undoes someone’s capacity to think, but certainly this is erroneous when you look at the big picture. Today, in contemporary society, the internet is used as a readily available knowledge database. One can spend hours on the internet obtaining new knowledge.
The Internet and Google are dominating the flow of the information through our eyes and ears to our brains. They are providing us with a huge amount of information by a way that is unprecedented in the history of mankind. I support Carr with his claim that Google is making us stupid because I think that after the invention of the Internet, human lifestyles have changed a lot; especially when they invented Google because it is the main search engine in the whole world, and people become completely dependent on it. Reading with focus is very important not only for the knowledge that we gain from the book author, but also in our minds for those spaces that bloom upon our minds from reading a book without focusing or meditating on the issue. For
The instant entertainment, communication, and social media all gone, people’s lives would probably be destroyed. We are too reliant on technology and it’s becoming part of our lives. Computers and cell phones affect social interaction, interferes with family obligations, and shortens ones attention span. Although this “supersystem” provides us with the best entertainment and is always convenient, we should go into the outside world and do activities without the use of the internet. Instead of wasting valuable time browsing the web, try going to a fundraiser or book signing.
Humans cannot do a lot without a computer; they use it to communicate, socialize, to help each other for their jobs. Humans reduced themselves to a simple mechanism. In Lanier’s “You are not a gadget “book, describes how technology is becoming more humanistic and is taking over our decision making skills because the internet has gotten programmed to make them for us. Lanier writes “The process of locked in is like a wave gradually washing over the rule book of life, culling the ambiguities of flexible thoughts as more and more thought structure are solidified into effectively permanent reality”. What he is trying to say is, a website or a program created online first is an idea that gradually using it and learning it makes you mandated to, it always makes you to use it and your brain so get adapted to and you cannot avoid it.
There are many famous people including Bauerlein himself were having an argument with another group of people on whether digital culture is an advantage or not. He backs up his opinion by saying “Together they form an imposing countervailing force, an alliance to slow the headlong rush to technologies learning, reading, writing, and intellectual life.” Bauerlein believes digital culture had cut of young adults’ understanding on literature and history because at this time, young adults would prefer to find answers on the Internet; therefore, reading also becomes a problem. Even though teenagers are willing to adapt the new learning style is an advantage for them; however, they should not abandon the old way of studying. Bauerlein said “If it doesn't happen in high school, in college and in home at this time, it probably never will.” Young adults should be aware of how to study when there aren’t any digital culture provided, on the other
Are We the Dumbest Generation? Adults often argue that the intellectual ability of today’s generations has taken a turn for the worst due to the amount of technology they are exposed to as they develop mature ideals. English professor Mark Bauerlein examines in his 2008 book the effects of digital media and how it has caused young people to be more connected and technologically savvy as a result of the wide range of modern inventions, but he also asserts that this has caused them to become less intelligent; therefore, he presents the modern ages as the Dumbest Generation. Young people have a tremendous amount of information available to them due to technology through social networks, the internet, and video games. Many respectable individuals discuss on whether to call the modern generation the “dumbest generation” (Bauerlein) or realizing that they might be participating in an intellectual revolution.