Preview

Nicholas Carr Does The Internet Make You Dumber Summary

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
182 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nicholas Carr Does The Internet Make You Dumber Summary
Nicholas Carr's essay "Does The Internet Make You Dumber" proves to be more persuasive in expressing his beliefs on why exactly this new medium of obtaining information might not be the best. One example that proved to be very persuasive was the reminder that we are animals, and will act on instinct, as presented "Our presdispostition is to be aware of as much of what's going on around us as possible. Our fast-paced, reflexive shifts in focus were once crucial to our survival" (Carr 219).

Although I thought Pinker brought up excellent points such as "New forms of media have always caused moral panics..." (Pinker 220) and how critics are not looking at the real statistics (Pinker 220), I am more on Carr's side on how we as people, need to train

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Today, many people find themselves using the Internet for almost everything. In fact, our society would probably have a very difficult time without access to the Web. It is an easy and convenient way to find what we are looking for, but has humanity become dependent on it? Has it turned our brains into mesh? Some say the modern generation is lazy, and the Internet is to blame for this. Contrary to that argument, access to technology has tremendously improved our world in many ways. The real concern arises from Nicholas Carr’s, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr grabs the attention of most, if not all, the viewers of this title, as he uncovers his highly critical article of the Internet’s effect on cognition.…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This comical take on the socialization of the Internet is extreme. Today, we need both pond-skaters and scuba divers; we need to master the ability to access facts while reserving time and space to do something meaningful with them. It is true our technologies are changing us, but in ways we can neither anticipate nor control. Because of the instant access to the Internet, we are able to get answers faster and more efficiently; this gives us an advantage toward learning, and in return can affect us. Overall I feel that if the Internet is being overused, therefore there may be long term gradual effects. I’m willing to take risk the chance, if I’m learning; soaking up new information in the process. Lastly, Carr says: "As we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence." This may be true, if you wrongly abuse your sources of information; just as anything can be misused. Take and use what we have when we need it, not just only when we want it and have to have…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    For over a decade now, the World has relied upon the global Internet as a tool and means of survival. From looking up your favorite recipe on Google to checking your beloved sports teams score on ESPN, the Internet has served as a lifesaver to our existence. However Nicholas Carr, author of the short essay “Is Google Making us Stupid?” states that while the Internet may be a “lifesaver” it also has its downfalls. Carr uses personal stories and tells of his extensive research in the area to make his readers believe in his credibility. This appeals to ethos, combined with his friendly tone, create an effective argument for why the Internet might actually be making humans stupid.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The efficiency of the web has forever changed our lives, although it might not be for the best. Ever since the invention of ways of communication, people have been talking down about them and saying they are not good for us, finally society might listen. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” written by Nicholas Carr, Carr asserts how the internet is depleting our abilities to read deeply as well as explaining how our concentration abilities deem nonexistent while trying to read anything more than a few paragraphs. The essay is written towards people who feel the effects of the efficiency of the web; loss of concentration and lack of ability to retain information. Nicholas Carr is not persuasive in his essay due to his overuse of assertion and lack…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nowadays, if a young adult hears a new terminology, instead of going to a library and looking it up in an encyclopedia as what his or her parents would have done, he or she will pull out his or her smartphone and “google” it. Thanks to Google and all other commercial Internet companies, we are closer to all kinds of information, both useful and useless, than any other time in human history. In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he admits how the immediate access to the rich store of online information is benefiting him largely as a writer (Carr, 589). While enjoying this positive influence of the Net, however, he brings up a side effect of the Internet which is hardly ever mentioned:…

    • 1532 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In his article: Is Google Making Us Stupid, the author Nicholas Carr describes how Internet searching influences he and his friends. He states that he became to lose “concentration” on books and long-articles. Therefore, he raises a view that we need to care about the Web information, although it makes human life more convenient. He wrote: “The Web [had] been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes” (Para.3). Obviously, the Internet searching technologies, for instance, Google, it really helps us save times. The Internet searching technology makes human life more convenient and make office works and school paper works more efficient.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people use the Internet in their everyday lives, but they do not understand the negative aspect that it has in their lives. In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he explains to us how the Internet affects our brains in a negative way. Some people disagree with Carr and say that the Internet is just a resource that we use in our everyday lives and it does not affect us negatively. Even though the internet has many positive aspects, the internet affects us more negatively in our everyday life.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In his essay “Is google making us stupid” Nicholas Carr explains how the internet has helped us to gather vast amounts of information very quick, but also how it has affected our attention span when the time comes to read long pieces of texts. Carr also feels that our brains are constantly getting rewired due to the amount of time we spend online has caused him to lose concentration when he is reading. Besides, make it easier to find information and rewiring our brains the internet has changed the way we comprehend what we are reading. Carr states that before the internet he could easily get caught in the argument of what he was reading and that he no longer does it because his concentration starts to drift away after reading a couple of pages.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When we search something we automatically believe what is stated on the internet because we think technology is more intelligent than people. Another think Carr touched upon is that the quality of our knowledge is being sacrificed. There is a generation that doesn’t know life without the Internet and the way that they think. Over time it is only going to get worse. Carr also makes an economic analysis of this new way of thinking and reading. “It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction,”…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people argue that internet is making us smarter, due to the fact that it has given us an easier access to look for information on any topics within seconds, however the internet is filled with unreliable sources and information. Especially on certain websites, like Wikipedia which allows everyone to edit it, which might cause false information to spread around. Another aspect is that internet has made instantaneous communication worldwide a common thing, allowing intercultural experience that was once impossible to succeed. However, social media has created huge distraction to teenagers who often browse through their Facebook, twitter accounts in class and elsewhere. As a matter of fact, internet is making us less attentive and intelligent, as people’s ability to read and write aggravate, moreover, we are constantly distracted by the tremendous amounts of information on the internet, which leads to loss of concentration and memory.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With the increased use of the Internet in people’s lives, a person cannot help but to feel a shift in the way he or she processes information so that the passages he or she reads are given cursory attention for the sake of efficiency. There are many consequences to this type of thinking. For instance, as Nicholas Carr, the writer of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” states, readers are more likely to put speed and practicality above forming connections within the text, which “may be weakening [their] capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace” (Carr 229). As unlikely as it seems, the way people read affects how they think. In the case of the Internet, the increase in information has shaped people to become shallow thinkers.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr illustrates to me that the internet is slowing down the development of our brain. I agree with his argument that technology has affected out attention span, he sets an example of how we now cannot concentrate on the readings, Scott Karp, and Bruce Friedman, both agree that their ability to read long articles has been affected by the web. Also, I agree with Carr that we are becoming low thinking people because the internet gives us easy access to have quick information research. However, I think that Google and the internet are actually helping us to learn new information. It is because when the computers are not here, we do all things by hand. If you want to know what a word means, you would need to get a dictionary. If you want to look up something that your teacher mentioned in class, but you don't know what it is, or how does it look like. Then, you would have to find the encyclopedia to look for it. In nowadays, we do everything by computer, communicate with people, blogging, searching, watch videos, etc. We can learn new information quickly by searching from the internet. As Carr said, "It [the Net] injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site" (Carr 62). They take away our concentration, when we are reading an article there are lots of ads, hyperlinks, which would take our attentions. Thus, we will go to another website and look for other stuffs.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The internet has become the number one source for information. It is quick and easy. Some argue that it is a distraction, while others argue that it is the best thing since slice bread. In the article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” by Carr he used a form of ethos and factual evidence to help get his point across to his readers. He argues how technology is hindering people and causing them to become lazy, therefore causing harm towards today’s society. Throughout the article “Mind Over Mass Media” Steven Pinker, also uses a form of ethos and factual evidence to help voice his opinion on how technology is serving more of a benefit. Some believe that people are becoming more intelligent because of the use of…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are more cons than pros for the Internet. Nicholas Carr has many great pieces of evidence to support his thesis. I agree because the Internet can take you down many wrong paths but at the same time technology is our future. Today people are not focusing on trying to improve our future, they are worried about today’s fashion or video games or celebrities. One of the studies Carr looked at was by Cornell which figured out that web surfing does distract students. This is good information for schools on how to help their students learn in the best way, and stay on track. The neuroscientist named Michael Merzenich made a very dramatic reason what the long-term effects of the Internet. Merzenich said the Internet could lead to death, which could be right but we don’t have any proof at the moment. At the same time, I think the Internet is a great source for information. I wish Carr talked a little about how the Internet also has important information…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Dumbest Generation

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Modern technology has its merits. As Bauerlein points out in his article “the Dumbest Generation”, the digital revolution has provided us with “miraculous quick and effortless contact with information.” Indeed, we are the generation surrounded by technology, and the immediate access to countless of information has definitely aided us in many aspects of the modern society. Researching information has become…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays