Is Google Making Us Stupid
Samantha Hammack
Dr. Turner
English 111-011
24 October 2012
Rhetorical Analysis of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
Nicholas G. Carr has written an abundance of articles about technology. Some of his work includes: Does It Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage, and The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google. One of Carr’s achievements, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” smoothly persuades the reader to believe that the Internet is taking over the human mind. The article’s title brings a tough question to mind for readers. By using a familiar movie scene and arguments embedded with relatable analogies, imagery and metaphors; Carr casually and acceptably leads his audience to a reasonable answer.
At the very beginning, Carr uses pathos to make us feel like we are more connected to his argument, and not just at a casual level. He also uses the unsettling scene of the computer to make us concerned and/or uncomfortable. This is so the readers will realize that what he is saying is important and that it needs to be changed. The scene is also a form of foreshadowing into the seriousness of what he is going to talk about.
Carr’s careful use of pathos simplify the audience’s sympathy for his drifting concentration, fidgety habits, and struggle while brightening up their persuasion with images like tripping over hyperlinks and jet skiing over a sea of words. Ethos is appealed to not only in the narrator’s self-consciousness, but the comparison in condition he has to related bloggers and personal scholastic contacts. A simple yes to the article title, finishes with a call for a more absolute picture of how the Internet use affects thought. For this, Carr relies on the logos of scientific research.
Carr also uses evidence from a various scientific studies to prove the change in reading patterns among people. Instead of poring through pages and pages of text to see if anything of use is present, users research sites power
Dr. Turner
English 111-011
24 October 2012
Rhetorical Analysis of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
Nicholas G. Carr has written an abundance of articles about technology. Some of his work includes: Does It Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage, and The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google. One of Carr’s achievements, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” smoothly persuades the reader to believe that the Internet is taking over the human mind. The article’s title brings a tough question to mind for readers. By using a familiar movie scene and arguments embedded with relatable analogies, imagery and metaphors; Carr casually and acceptably leads his audience to a reasonable answer.
At the very beginning, Carr uses pathos to make us feel like we are more connected to his argument, and not just at a casual level. He also uses the unsettling scene of the computer to make us concerned and/or uncomfortable. This is so the readers will realize that what he is saying is important and that it needs to be changed. The scene is also a form of foreshadowing into the seriousness of what he is going to talk about.
Carr’s careful use of pathos simplify the audience’s sympathy for his drifting concentration, fidgety habits, and struggle while brightening up their persuasion with images like tripping over hyperlinks and jet skiing over a sea of words. Ethos is appealed to not only in the narrator’s self-consciousness, but the comparison in condition he has to related bloggers and personal scholastic contacts. A simple yes to the article title, finishes with a call for a more absolute picture of how the Internet use affects thought. For this, Carr relies on the logos of scientific research.
Carr also uses evidence from a various scientific studies to prove the change in reading patterns among people. Instead of poring through pages and pages of text to see if anything of use is present, users research sites power
Cited: Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Norton Field Guide To Writing With Readings And Handbook. Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, Francine Weinberg. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., (2010): 961-72. Print.