Essay About "Is Google Making Us Stupid"

Nicholas Carr argues in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that the internet is changing the way we think and work for the worst. I have to disagree. Although the internet is changing us, it’s for the better. First, the internet has become a great equalizer in terms of education. Second, communicating across the web allows for intercultural experiences that were once impossible without a plane ticket. Third, even though Carr may feel uncomfortable with his brain being molded by the web, the younger generation has only ever known the internet and as such is better suited to the vastness of it. To begin, Carr’s whole argument that the internet is making us stupid is easily refuted when looking at the resources available to us now. We have Wikipedia, online school and library databases, even college course all being served on the web. At one point, Carr brings up an opinion of Richard Foreman, a playwright, that we will become “pancake people –spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information”. What they fail to realize is that although the internet has an endless amount of information, the user doesn’t necessarily try to access all of it. Rather, just like when reading traditionally, we gravitate towards what we are interested in and what is useful to us. The hyperlinks that Carr mentions as we “power browse” are actually much more helpful in going deeper into a subject. If someone is reading an article, let’s say on Wikipedia, and they come upon a hyperlink to a subject that they aren’t well versed in and will help them to understand their current subject better, why wouldn’t they follow it and gain more information. This allows for a student to learn more about particular subjects, giving them more knowledge faster, and making them less stupid.

Another blessing the internet has brought us is the ability to communicate across cultures without leaving our homes. On sites such