Rhetorical Analysis Of Nicholas Carr's Is Google Making USupid?

Rhetorical Analysis of Nicholas Carr’s
“Is Google Making Us Stupid?
We are at a time where technology is widespread; it has become a part of our everyday life leading to advantages and disadvantages and technology currently has become the most important topic to discuss and everyone has developed their own unique opinion. In Nicholas Carr’s article published in 2008, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he argues that as technology progresses people’s mentality changes. Carr is effective in his argument by sharing his fears and personal experiences to influence the audience utilizing pathos and ethos. Not only does he include his own experience, but he also includes other people’s point of views. He goes on to support his claim of how technology
He includes a quote from the movie, 2001: Space Odyssey, which states “‘Dave my mind is going’ HAL says, forlornly. ‘I can feel it. I can feel it.”’ (Carr 556). With this quote at the beginning, the reader automatically starts thinking about why he included this. What he explains next quickly answers any questions. Carr relates this feeling of a mind adjusting to his, stating, “My mind isn’t going- so far as I can tell- but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used I think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading” (Carr 557). This is an effective use of pathos because it draws the reader to question whether their way of thinking is modifying as well. Carr is trying to create this connection so the audience feels exactly what he is feeling and is successful in doing so. Carr expresses that his mind and how he thinks has changed due to the new phenomenon, “the Internet.” He proves his point by explaining that the internet has reprogrammed our minds to want everything quick and complete. To me, this was effective because once the reader thinks about how much the internet is affecting them personally, they start realizing how accurate this is. By successfully including pathos he interacts with any type of audience and has them mentally
An argument without valid reasoning is simply someone stating their point of view, but by including core evidence your argument has a purpose. Carr supports his claim by including research and other credible sources rather than solely including his thoughts on the subject. He includes research from the University College London, which states, “They found that people using the sites exhibited ‘a form of skimming activity,’ hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited” (Carr 559). The data is not fictional; it confirms the alteration in our minds that we are experiencing. By including factual information, it validates Carr’s argument and does not merely state his thoughts. Later, Carr says that our mentality changes, but for this to happen our brain must be malleable. In his article, he explains how research done by George Mason University confirms the theory that our brains can reprogram themselves and modify the way they function. It is essential that Carr includes this piece of information because he justifies the fact that our minds can alter, and it gives him credibility and effectiveness in his argument by using research from a credible university. By using outside resources to support his claim Carr is much more effective in his argument because often the audience appeals to logos and it demonstrates to