Post by niastallworth on Jul 17, 2011 12:27:12 GMT -5
"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr, is an article written based on the idea that the internet and google are altering our mental habits. Carr continually generalizes throughout the few pages on the internet's negative effect on a person's concentration and thinking. However, he acknowledges that the problems he and his friends face are their own fault when he states,"The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon," after describing the lack of concentration problem he and his friends now faced. Carr obviously spends a great deal of time on the internet himself if he follows blogs. Nobody forced Carr or his friends to go online and become dependent on the quick researching that the internet allows. Personally, asking if the internet or google is making us stupid is as idiotic as asking if using the Dewey decimal system makes us lazy.
Carr's title does not seem to coincide with the article he has written. Never in the article does he state or even provide evidence to google's effect on our intelligence. Instead he focuses on the way google is negatively changing our normal method of processing information. The information he gave to support this idea was a recently published study administered by scholars from the University College London. The evidence provided from the study showed that people who visited two popular research sites skimmed articles.
After describing the fear Socrates had about the effects of writing on human knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus Carr goes on to say. " ...he was shortsighted. He couldn't foresee the many ways writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge ( if not wisdom)". Carr's opinion about Socrates' shortsightedness can be used as an argument against his own judgement of the internet. The internet has been able to let people to connect more on a global scale. As well as making the process of researching easier than before the internet or Google.
Later in the article Carr quotes James Olds, a professor of neuroscience at George Mason University about of the plasticity of the adult brain and its ability to quickly reprogram itself to alter the way it functions. With this information its clear that the effects the internet may or may not have on a person are not permanent and can simply be changed by limiting time on the internet and choosing to do research through books instead of the internet.
In conclusion, a person's internet usage is ultimately their own choice. Which means the effects that it may or may not have on a person after continuous use is their own fault. Just because the internet may have changed the way people think does not mean it is necessarily a bad thing. In the beginning of all relatively new technological discoveries there are critics that only point out the bad and compare to the past.
Carr's title does not seem to coincide with the article he has written. Never in the article does he state or even provide evidence to google's effect on our intelligence. Instead he focuses on the way google is negatively changing our normal method of processing information. The information he gave to support this idea was a recently published study administered by scholars from the University College London. The evidence provided from the study showed that people who visited two popular research sites skimmed articles.
After describing the fear Socrates had about the effects of writing on human knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus Carr goes on to say. " ...he was shortsighted. He couldn't foresee the many ways writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge ( if not wisdom)". Carr's opinion about Socrates' shortsightedness can be used as an argument against his own judgement of the internet. The internet has been able to let people to connect more on a global scale. As well as making the process of researching easier than before the internet or Google.
Later in the article Carr quotes James Olds, a professor of neuroscience at George Mason University about of the plasticity of the adult brain and its ability to quickly reprogram itself to alter the way it functions. With this information its clear that the effects the internet may or may not have on a person are not permanent and can simply be changed by limiting time on the internet and choosing to do research through books instead of the internet.
In conclusion, a person's internet usage is ultimately their own choice. Which means the effects that it may or may not have on a person after continuous use is their own fault. Just because the internet may have changed the way people think does not mean it is necessarily a bad thing. In the beginning of all relatively new technological discoveries there are critics that only point out the bad and compare to the past.