Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

The meaningful phrase, “I can feel it.” Carr can feel it too. In fact, many of his friends and one popular blogger can all feel the tolls of the Net rewiring their brains. Concentrating on a long book or article used to be easy for Carr

Carr’s credibility increases as he quotes many known writers

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008), the Pulitzer Prize finalist claims that the evolving age of technology, particularly the Internet, is damaging our cognitive attention. Carr initially presents his argument through a series of anecdotes that make the topic more understandable; thereafter, he backs up his main points with numerous different types of supportive evidence. Relatable stories of how the technologic advancements are causing a neural retrogression amongst the general population are provided in order to show what the Internet is really doing to our minds and hopefully inform us about the dangerous path we are on. Carr’s use of both academic and casual language entertains the audience with a complex and

Rhetorical Analysis In the article “Is Google Making us Stupid?”, author Nicholas Carr expresses his idea that the internet is taking over society and our thinking process. Google is affecting our abilities to read books, longer articles, and even older writings. Carr believes that we have become so accustomed to the ways of the internet, and we are relying on Google 's ability to sort through the details for us so we don 't have to, in order to get the information we find necessary more efficiently. He finds that this process has become almost too handy, and that it is corrupting us from becoming better educated.

Analytical Review of “Is Google Making Us Stupid” As society advances into the technological era, innovations have served society as a catalyst to become more efficient, more technologically sound, and most importantly more in tuned with the rapid changes that are presented to us every day. Yet, there are some, that like to stay “old school.” There are some arguments that state these technological advancements are receding society’s intellectual advancement. Nonetheless, it should be apparent that the subject on society’s advancement has many view points and approaches. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr approaches the common issues of common availability of information through the internet; most importantly how it effects our ability to search and retain information.

On page 228 Carr says,” What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed,i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?” The web changes the way one thinks because they are seeking something that is a little shorter of a passage and easier to read; in the long run that causes you to think for shorter amounts of time. Carr writes about Friedrich Nietzsche, and how when he purchased a typewriter,due to his failing eyesight, that his writing has become,” even tighter and more telegraphic”. Even a simple machine such as the typewriter can have a significant effect on someones writing ability; imagine what the world wide web and someones computer would be capable of doing to the average

Time is advancing swiftly with technology as its sidekick on sweeping the way people think. In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” Carr discusses that as great as it is that society takes advantage of every technological innovation, allowing it to consume their way of living as it lacks the authenticity of personal and intellectual growth. Ultimately, society is in an unhealthy relationship with technology as technology brings forth its many conveniences, where society hops onto anything that will make life a bit easier, yet this harms society into losing their track of enjoying life and its trudges. Society focuses more on reaching a result quickly and efficiently, rather than enduring the progression towards that goal. Nicholas Carr beautifully scripts how technology leads to a more distracted person as productivity is more important than enjoying life’s wonders.

Nicholas Carr’s article titled Is Google Making us Stupid was written to deliver an urgent message to the reader. Carr’s purpose for writing this article was to inform the masses of the potential dangers in how new technologies change the ways our minds work. He is trying to warn us how writing has reduced our capability to remember details in our heads, just like the internet has been able to change the way our brains store, acquire, and handle information. The author makes the argument that Carr makes a reference to the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. In his reference he tells the reader about the HAL computer who uncannily perfectly expresses human emotion, as it shares its concern that its data banks and artificial brain is being shut down

1. Nicholas Carr’s argument in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” challenges Thompson’s argument which was that the internet is making people smarter by helping people improve their writing skills when they read other people’s work online. However, Carr believes with so much information available, the internet had changed our “mental habits” in a negative way. The internet has people using “ a form of skimming activity” which decreases how much people read to “no more than one or two pages of an article or book” (Carr 2) before they change to different site. Carr complicates Boyd’s view on how algorithms are filtering what people see on their screen and those who are not digitally literate would be clueless of this.

Juxtaposing with writers last comments he mentions bloggers like Scott Karp and Bruce Friedman who were once avid readers and now have completely lost their ability to concentrate and contemplate the long articles they read. Carr also asserts that only anecdotes don’t prove anything. To prove his point he examines the study done by scholars from University of London which concludes that people who use computer logs to research shows signs of skimming rather than depth reading.

Carr uses himself as an example because “[he] starts to drift after two or three pages” (Carr 1). Even being a writer his mind struggles to keep focused on a book, or something that is new to him. He also uses his friends as examples, stating that “many are having similar experiences” (Carr 2). A blogger Scott Karp, recently said how he has stopped reading altogether. Another blogger Bruce Friedman, said “[he has] almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print” (qtd.

He tries the explain the natural development of technology and how it is leading us to artificial intelligence, but in doing this he does not add into in his argument. The objective of companies like Google attempting to supplement our intelligence with artificial intelligence does not have any measurable outcome in the real world. The counterargument is trying to take something that he believes may happen in the future vs. something that he has explained to be experienced over time. While it is possible that he is trying to warn about the future to this problem, this argument does not supplement his argument that we are losing our attention span when it comes to long readings online. Carr is only deviated from what he is trying to convince the reader, and this only adds to the tangled mess that his arguments are in

Carr expresses that his mind and how he thinks 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 it, they start realizing how accurate this actually is. By successfully, including pathos he interacts with the any type of audience and has them mentally

In today’s society, technology plays a very important role in its ability to function, it helps people find information, communicate with others far away and provides entertainment. In “Fahrenheit 451”, a book written by Ray Bradbury, a dystopian future where books have been made illegal is presented. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, raises many questions about technology and its effects on society. It’s quite evident that we have become quite dependent on technology due to our overconsumption of it.

He supports this argument by citing a study conducted by students who have attended The University College London. The study proved to us that we no longer thoroughly read material, rather we just skim over most of what we read. From the convoluted works of the late 19th century, to the material of present day, the way we write and comprehend