Preview

The Importance Of Google: Deleterious To Our Brains

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
311 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Importance Of Google: Deleterious To Our Brains
In his essay Carr explains his reasoning behind why he believes Google and other technologies are deleterious to our brains. Carr says that he is "not thinking the way he used to think" (Carr 731). His brain has become accustomed to taking in information like a computer and "deep reading has become a struggle" (Carr 731). While he does have valid points I only agree with his main point partly. Google has been a godsend, and as Carr said himself has made things easier "Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms if libraries can now be done in minutes" (Carr 732). I have had people from those times say how blessed Generation Z is that we don't have to spend valuable time in dark periodical rooms as much as they did. Now

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” Nicholas Carr implies that he notices that something is causing his brain to change. He realizes that he is not thinking the way he used to think, especially during reading. While reading in the past, he explains how he would be able to engage in long articles or books, but now finds his concentration drifting away after just a couple of pages. He began to realize these differences since he has started utilizing the internet. Carr aims to convince his readers that our brains are trying to move at the same rates as the internet, skimming rather than completely soaking in new information. The internet is creating a new method of learning, much different from the traditional book or printed way of learning. Carr supports his belief by describing how intellectual activities are being replaced by technology, the development of the “one best method”, and Google’s motive to make the internet more accessible.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over history technology has changed mankind’s overall culture. From clocks to computers the use of electronics and tools is occurring every day in almost all situations. In Carr’s article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” he introduces the idea how the internet is changing our lives by making us mentally process information differently from the past, based off previous changes in history. Carr explains how we think less deeply and rely on quick facts, versus using critical thinking and research. Also he explains how our brain is malleable, and may be changed by the internet’s impression. Lastly Carr talks about what the internet may become in the future, and how it could make us more like computers. I believe Carr’s ideas on the way the internet is shaping lives are valid because the proof is all around us. (Carr)…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” in the magazine The Atlantic, the author, Nicholas Carr, recounts his difficulties with concentration while reading lengthy articles and books. Carr claims that these difficulties may be caused by an increase in the time he spends on the internet. His principle argument is that the internet provides us with a means of rapidly accessing information that we are searching for and this causes our minds to be used to obtaining information in such a swift manner – this is proof that, contrary to his opinion, Google is making us smart.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Nicholas Carr’s article he expresses how the Internet is changing our brains and making us think differently. When he is reading a novel he experiences himself not fully opening up the book and being easily distracted. Instead of reading he is simply skimming and not delving into the text. He explains his trouble as “ I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I am dragging my wayward brain back to the text” (2). By Carr’s observations he realizes that what used to be natural is now a struggle. Instead of really researching a topic people are allowing search engines like Google, to make their lives easier and research for them. Although you are still learning and searching the links are pushing you towards an answer instead of allowing your brain to think for itself.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is Google Making Us Stupid

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the Atlantic Magazine, Nicholas Carr wrote an article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr poses a good question about how the internet has affected our brain, by remapping the neural circuitry and reprogramming our memory. Carr states, “My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell-but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the say way I used to think.”…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Is Google Making us Stupid”, an article published in Atlantic Monthly 2008, Nick Carr writes that Google has made it easier for us to take in information, quickly at great volumes, the effect of the mechanical clock, along with the algorithm, and finally he finishes his essay writing about Google being a perfect search engine. Carr states that the technology is changing the way that society reads and writes; the Internet is shaping the process of thought.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A graduate of Harvard University, Nicholas Carr’s essay, published in Altantic in 2008, expresses his opinion about the effects google has on our b rains. Carr’s writings about technology made appearances in the New York Times Magaz ine, Wired, the Financial Times and Diee Ziet. The intended audience for his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” is general and it’s about if google is effecting our abilities and the way we think. Nicholas Carr uses narration, explanation and cause / effect modes to exp lain to readers about how using the internet has changed our abilities, inform us on the changes of our t hought process and the effects it has on our brain. Carr opens the article with a poignant scene from Stanl ey Kubrick’s A Space…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” is an article written by Nicholas Carr, which was published in The Atlantic in July 2008. Throughout his article, Carr discusses how people are beginning to rely on the internet as their primary source of information. He also states that the internet is negatively affecting the way we read and write, and is also having an effect on the way we process information. With the help of his fellow writers and personal research, he makes various points addressing these issues, and others in this article.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Shallows

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One of the quotes in the book that really sets a tone for the argument is “at an important juncture in our intellectual and cultural history, a moment of transition between two very different modes of thinking.” (Carr) This statement alone can go a few hundred different directions between skeptics and optimists. For optimists, the internet has brought a vast abundance of information truly relevant to what you are looking for. For instance, if you are looking up information on the internet about Julius Caesar’s death, instead of that long, costly trip to the library, pull up Google and type it in and watch the results pop up. No more buying up a crapload of books that you don’t want or reading a bunch of boring books that dance around the info you truly want. Instead of that you have Google, your ultimate tool for complete research. However, other people feel that this is “dumbing down” the population. Why? Because instead of researching topics the hard way, the way that actually requires you…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr. Carr speaks on how over the last decade his focus and ability to concentrate has been declining due to the fact that he has a plethora of knowledge available to him on his smartphone or computer, thus he is not able to focus on a task at hand for as long as he could before the age of information. Carr claims that his mind is changing for the worse and backs his evidence with first hand accounts of respected scholars who also share the same fate as he does. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” is an article that delves deep into the age of information and can explain why it is much easier for people to procrastinate today than it was a decade ago.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The general argument made by Nicholas Carr in his work, “From The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains,” is that technology is dangerous to the brain, conditioning the body that they need more technology, and less of anything else. More Specifically, Carr states that, “I used to find it easy to immerse myself in a book or a lengthy article...Now my consideration starts to drift after a page or two” (Carr par. 2). In this passage, Carr is suggesting that the effects of technology and the internet have imposed on him that he needs the internet to function at a proper level. He thinks that this is going to be a problem in the future of society. He is suggesting that we will be unable to communicate…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In analyzing Carr’s premise, I find both strengths and weaknesses. His assertion is that use of the Internet and resources like Google actually change the nature of our brain. Yet he reaches this assumption with mere anecdotal data, pointing to his own experience and that of “friends and acquaintances.” He sites their difficulties with reading long books and passages—even blogs over three or four paragraphs. Nowhere in his article does Carr make reference to legitimate studies that go beyond that small group of people, all of which may have similar levels of education, income, career, family demands, stress levels.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The human brain is already a type of computer, but according to Bill out’s opinion “The Human brain is an outdated computer” now that google has artificial intelligence, humans will start to rely on the internet for all of their information and knowledge. We have become reliant on technology to teach us, and even think for us. Eventually the thinking process will be eliminated because humans will just google it. The biggest part of being human is our intelligence. The internet is effecting just that. We now rely so much on computers and other electronic devices to think for us. What happened to the good old days where people would read long books and appreciate deep conversations? In public people are always on the internet on their phones or tablets. On social media or taking funny pictures. Not paying attention to the world around them. The internet sucks people in and makes it difficult to get off. It’s sad that people would sit on their phone all day, when they could be enjoying life. It will be interesting to see how this changes the way people…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nicholas Carr provides an interesting question to his readers. He follows this question with various different viewpoints of different authors and professors. By doing this, he makes the reader do the exact opposite of what he says is done nowadays. We, as the readers, are forced to take a minute and think about the point of the article instead of just skimming over it. This is why his point is effective. He makes us go the extra mile in order to come up with an answer to his question. Google is making us stupid in a way. Along…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nicholas Carr begins his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains” he references Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, particularly the part where a character is dismantling the brain of and artificial intelligence machine. Carr goes so far as to say that he can relate to the aforementioned machine because he feels his brain has also been tampered with. He quickly loses interest in the activities he used to enjoy, such as reading, because he spends so much time on the Internet and believes it is affecting his concentration abilities. He is fair in that he admits that the Internet has been useful in connecting with people and finding information but he also believes that, like a double-edged sword, the benefit comes with a price. Carr believes that media through the Internet can provide the information you need but also shapes the course of a person’s thought process. He believes our minds will begin to need to take data in the same way that the Internet does, “In a swiftly moving stream of particles.” Nicholas Carr is not the only one with this opinion; Scott Karp is an online blogger who claims he has completely stopped reading books even though he graduated college as a literature major. Karp believes that, since he started using the Internet, the way he thinks has changed but not the way he reads. A study recently conducted by the University College London backs this theory up. The five year study shows that most online users only skim dialogue, sporadically save long articles to read later, and tend to, “power browse”, a term that means people will look for keywords that pertain to their research to avoid reading more than they have to. Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist and author, says that, “We are not only what we read; we are how we read.” Wolf is of the opinion that the way people read on the Internet puts efficiency and immediacy above all else and may dwindle the…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays