Post by zaidsiddiqui on Aug 9, 2011 16:05:25 GMT -5
Nicholas Carr writes about the Internet causing people to be more easily distracted than ever before when he says, “And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” but I believe it’s not only the internet that takes way from concentration, it’s also smartphones, videogames and TV. Whenever I’m doing work such as writing a paper for a class, I’ll stop halfway through and go watch pokemon or play some Halo and this generally causes me to get behind on my work and keeps my mind distracted from the work at hand. All new technology, not just the web, constantly distracts us from our tasks at hand and takes away from our concentration. Up to this point, while writing this essay, I’ve sent about 5 texts and read part way through the article and even watched some Spongebob. Mr. Carr talks about colleagues of his who can’t read and absorb longer articles because of the Internet. I don’t believe that the Internet is the cause of the inability to pay attention, but rather it’s simply the people don’t think they can absorb the information so they don’t try as hard to understand. I have to finish these essays today and so I have told myself that I will get them done no matter what and this keeps me working on the essay, but if I kept telling myself I couldn’t do it, I’d eventually believe it and then I wouldn’t work and I wouldn’t finish them by tonight, but I will finish them. I’ve also noticed my dad read articles after articles without getting bored or distracted or bouncing to another article as Mr. Carr says all people do in the modern age. Another theory Carr mentions is that the Internet promotes efficiency in reading or managing to locate the main points and the theme without completely reading the article or work of literature and to a degree I agree with him on the matter because of sites like spark notes and course notes. Quick searches on the computer like the control+f function allow us to quickly find the information we are searching for without reading and absorbing the entire article. Carr stated that his colleague said, “the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading,” which is absolutely correct because of our ability quickly locate key words that give us the concepts and ideas presented in an article. Thus, the Internet does promote efficiency, but I do not really believe the Internet is the reason people don’t think they can absorb as much information as they once could in one reading. I have, in the course of writing this essay, sent about 30 texts, played 2 different games on my phone and watched scenes from three episodes of Spongebob, so the Internet isn’t the only distraction to reading and understanding articles or books.