Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

Is Google Making Us Stupid? Throughout Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he goes over what he believes the internet is doing to our brains, and why it may be bad. To begin, Carr describes that he himself had felt that something in his brain was changing. He felt a significant change is his thinking, reasoning, and concentration skills, especially when it came to reading.

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

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he states that our minds are changing because of the time we spend online. He explains how not only does the media just supply the information to the users, it also morphs the thoughts that flow in people’s minds. Previous habits such as reading are slowly being affected, but only few have noticed the change. For instance, when surfing the web people skim the articles they’re reading and merely go from link to link. Carr talks about how easy it is to research and find things on the internet within minutes maybe even seconds.

“Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, starts out by Carr explaining his personal thoughts on how the Internet has changed him over the years. He feels as if he can’t concentrate on long essays or books. Nicholas Carr believes that the Web is a great source for information, but it is teaching the public to skim through articles instead of taking the time to concentrate and read them word for word. Nicholas Carr starts out by explaining a scene in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey where someone takes apart the memory circuits of an artificial brain that controls the space ship.

In his article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, the author Nicholas Carr describes the many ways the use of search engines have on our comprehension. He writes, “The more they use the Web , the more they have to fight to focused on long pieces of writing”(Carr). Most people who often searched the Web, limit themselves from actually learning. For example, googling questions to find answers quicker than actually reading the text limits one's knowledge. Maryanne Wolf, a Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist also stated that search engines is affecting the way we read and write.

In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr clearly states his thesis and the idea that not only is google changing the way we as humans think, read, and write, but all of technology is affecting us in our everyday lives. The internet sources such as Google are created to find information fast and easy for users. Google does all the searching and hard work of having to read through huge articles. We are humans have it easy now, we no longer have to do all the reading and digging around of endless articles and papers.

In Nicholas Carr’s news article. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”(2008), he expresses his concerns on how technology is changing the mental abilities of our minds. The author first provides anecdotal evidences by giving relevant quotes from reputable sources, he then introduces notable historical events as examples for his claim, and to conclude he challenges his readers to rethink their views of the internet. His purpose is to inform the reader on the altering effects of using technology. He seems to have a younger, tech savvy audience in mind because they are an easy group of people to connect with, since they are exposed to technology more than others.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?: Reading Response Author Nicholas Carr claims that the internet is making humans depend more heavily on short, summarized information online instead of reading books and long text, thus making us “stupid.” Carr uses anecdotes, typewriting “algorithms,” and shortened newspaper abstracts as evidence of humans’ deteriorating attention span (Carr 735-748). His explanation of other advancements in technology and the history of looking for shortcuts supports his argument in Google’s hand in making us lazier.

At the beginning of the article, he opens up about his struggles with reading and how he thinks something is changing the way he processes his thought. When the Internet first came to be, Carr was pleased. He has noticed how technology may be changing everything. He goes on to explain how common day tasks are being done faster. In the next section he discusses a few credible studies that show our brains are thinking differently because of technology.

Is the internet changing our ability to focus? Or more importantly, is the internet harming our ability to focus or enhancing it? Based on my interpretation of Nicholas Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, I believe he thinks it is making us worse. Although he did bring up a few valid points, his opinion is flawed due to the many benefits of the internet as well as a few assumptions he’s made of the effects it’s had on the human population. Nicholas Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, brings towards us the argument that the Internet is changing the way think and do day to day activities.

Search engines such as Google make life much easier by accessing hundreds and even thousands of different sources of information. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr he shows that the internet is negatively affecting people's ability to observe and concentrate. According to Carr, with so much information available to people on the internet, it makes them less patient and focused. While books require people to read thoroughly and search for information, on the internet people can just skim through quickly, go from article to article, and just read titles to figure out what information is needed. Carr writes, “When we read online, we tend to become ‘mere decoders of information.’

It has also been found out that the internet users have a high level of stress and anxiety due to psychological disorders which include impulse control and can also affect their tendency to acquire knowledge. They, in essence, become shallow thinkers and moreover

In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr is saying that when the internet becomes our primary source of information, it negatively affects our reading ability and our attention span. Using Google and the internet dulls our brain’s experience in the learning process and makes it hard to focus on reading. Carr gives a researched account on how using the internet is supposed to be fast and rewarding to the user. He explains that we go on the internet because it is easier and less time consuming than using something like a book or a magazine. Carr exclaims that we now use the internet as our main source for information.

He includes quotes from large, technology tycoons who believe that advancement in technology is beneficial because it is making information more accessible and more useful. Carr counters this claim by stating that with the large advancements that technology “Is doing the work of the mind” (324). While he addresses naysayers in his argument he does not completely dismiss their ideas, instead discussing them in a calm way that builds his credibility with the reader. Though Carr believes the most important thing that technology is doing is getting close to replacing human thinking, he discusses the ideas that people believe could be a positive. His rational discussion of the opposition makes him appear knowledgeable to the reader which further builds his argument.

The Influence of Technology In the essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that utilization of the internet has an adverse effect on our way of thinking and functioning in everyday life. Whether it be reading a newspaper, or scrolling through Facebook, internet media has forever stamped its name in our existence. Carr explains to us that the internet is a tool used every single day in today’s society, but also makes most of us complacent with the ease of having the world at our fingertips.