Nicholas Carr wonders if someone is tinkering with his brain in "Is Google Making us Stupid?" So, what you need to do for this blog post is agree or disagree with him: do you believe google (i.e. the internet) is changing the way people--the mass culture--think and react? Your post should be 250-350 words and needs to have evidence (from Carr's piece) to support your claim. This means direct quotes and direct ideas to support the claim you are making. Even if you disagree with Carr you still need to use his article to show why you disagree.
As always be sure to engage with your peers.
I can not agree with Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” Google is not changing the way people are thinking and reacting, if anything it is making us more knowledgable. Nicholas Carr states that “We are not only what we read, we are how we read.” This proves my point exactly that by reading an actual textbook it will take us more time to find what we are looking for and then once we finally find it we have to read it all which doubles our time, whereas searching for something on the internet takes less than a second to retrieve and we can find exactly what we are looking for and still have time to look up more information. The internet is helping us think smarter and look for just what we need while cutting out the fluff that is unnecessary. Not only is the internet making us think smarter but it is making us react differently than if everything was just actual books. If you are hanging out with a friend and you want to know the weather, chances are that your reaction would be to get on a computer and look it up instead of trying to find a newspaper and looking for the weather section. Another example that Nicholas Carr uses is email. it is very rare to send letters nowadays, instead it is a smarter and more economical way to just get on a computer and check your email. Nicholas Carr does have some valid points why google is making us stupid by “Chipping our concentration and contemplation” due to our ability to change from website to website to fast.
ReplyDeleteI agree and disagree to a certain extent of both. The internet is not necessarily making us stupid, it is just changing the way we obtain our information. That as he put it is "rewiring our brains." Dominique mentioned that takes more time to find the information we need, and that we do not need all the fluff that exists in between. That other stuff is important though in being knowledgeable about the subject. That book is one topic and one topic only usually. The internet makes it really easy to see bullet points and jump from one topic to the next without reading deep into an article. This has caused us to become very impatient when it does come to reading a book, because we have become so used to getting just the information we need very fast. Carr also mentioned Friedrich Nietzsche was loosing his eyesight so he switched to using a typewriter. His friends noticed that a change came about in using a different medium to covey his works. I myself notice a change from using a computer or actually writing on paper. There is a noticeable difference in my style. The only explanation is a different mindset from typing actual writing with a pen. Society is gradually moving a way from writing to typing. The ways we encounter like the internet is most defiantly shaping how we write and the way we learn and read information. We learn about more broad topics, and not in-depth of just one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicholas Carr in his article. Google has completely changed the way we think and the way we react. Carr mentioned how when he is reading his “concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.” After one part of this article, I couldn’t help but open another tab to check my e-mail and my Facebook. I also find myself skimming paragraphs before realizing I need to reread it in its entirety. While I do agree with Dominique’s comment that “The internet is helping us think smarter and look for just what we need while cutting out the fluff that is unnecessary”, I feel that sometimes that extra fluff might contain a piece of information we might see as useful. I also agree with Carr when he says that “behind [reading] lies a different kind of thinking.” When reading a book or an article, especially a complex one, it’s necessary to read it all in order to fully grasp the meaning or point. However, when we search on Google for an answer, we’re given a direct, short answer in a matter of seconds. While the convenience is clearly prevalent, it seems that we are getting too lazy. Reading can teach you so many things other than the content. Your vocabulary can greatly expand and by reading, your grammar will improve by seeing how things should be said. On the internet, anyone can write anything. If people are relying on Wikipedia or blogs for their information which happens quite often, they might not be getting accurate information like they would in a scholarly textbook. All in all, I agree with Carr. The internet has made us lazy and less willing to read.
ReplyDeleteI would have to wholeheartedly agree with both Madison and Nicholas Carr the author of the article Is Google Making Us Stupid. As a young child I would easily read through a book in a week, now as nineteen year old college student I find myself reading a book maybe every two to three months. While reading this article I thought back to all the reading I do in ethics and how hard I find it to pay attention the consistent slabs of text. “Concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.” this all too similar to the problems I have while reading a lengthy piece, which is quite frustrating while trying to retain information. Nicholas Carr also states that “the human brain is infinitely malleable” if true, than the internet would certainly have a huge impact on the way we retain and learn information. With Google being an information super highway, convenience has outweighed proper learning which has led to a whole generation of people seeming to have fragmented knowledge of various subjects. The internet has even rerouted the direction of scientific development, to think some people would want to create something to do all our mental processes for us or artificial intelligence, frankly disgusts me. To think in a country where laziness is a huge problem, people are creating mediums for people to be lazier. In Carr’s last statement he talks about the computer pleading for his life at the end of 2001: space odyssey, and how it is more human than the actual humans themselves, for me this really struck the point home, do I really want my brain to turn into blank functionless machine with little mental activity and devoid of emotions, does anyone?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Nicholas Carr in his article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" While the internet may be changing the way we think, it is not degrading our thought process like Carr proposes. I agree with Dominique's comment that, if anything, Google is making us more knowledgeable. How could such an advancement in technology make the human race less knowledgeable? Carr states, "Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I've got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after." Google allows us to obtain virtually any type of information within minutes. The same substantial information from an entire book may be accessible in a condensed version through a few simple clicks. So why would one want to go in depth to obtain information when they can access the same information summarized in a few paragraphs? If Carr is correct in that Google is changing the way we think, it can only be a positive change. Google allows us to learn more over a shorter period of time than ever before. The more we learn, the more knowledgeable and better off the human race is as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Nicholas because google is a source that can help you locate information about any topic you are looking for. It is not necessarily stoping you from reading but it makes life easier for you by providing information about a subject without leaving your house to go to the library. Many college students and adults now a days do not have the time to go to the library to spend countless hours searching for information that can be found on google in less then 5 minutes. As Nicholas states in his article “ research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes”. I have simply used google and other websites to merely find information quick and easy instead of being in the library for hours looking for the answer to one question. I agree with Madison when she says she cant help but check her Facebook or her email after just getting a little of her reading done, I can not agree more in what she is saying but i feel that the internet has more positives then negative and yes even though all these social websites can be very distracting, there are a lot of information on the internet and you can learn so much. You just have to have the will power to concentrate and actually do your work. I agree with Luc when he says google/ the internet is the reason most people stop reading books. I believe this because with all the new cell phones and TV’s coming out now a days its getting harder to stay concentrated in your studies and i feel that this is effecting us, but i also feel that we have advanced so much in technology that the internet and other advances have distracted us from reading books but I don't think it has made us stupid.
ReplyDeleteI personally have to disagree with Nicholas Carr in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” because the effect of Google is not making people less knowledgeable but it is making people lazy and impatient. As Carr explains in his piece, “ Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.” I can definitely relate to the way he feels while reading a long novel or even a long paragraph. This lack of concentration is not stupidity, but it is the influence of having such quick and easy access to gaining information rather then having to work for it. I agree with Jared when he mentions that Google is just changing the way we obtain information, and as Carr explains it as “rewiring our brains.” Also, when Madison explains that as she was reading the story she could not help but get distracted and open other tabs I can admit that I did the same exact thing. Our generation has been raised around technology that throws out information on the web in the matter of seconds so it is not surprising when students rely on wiki and spark notes for information on homework or even a project. When you are sitting there with a book in one hand and a laptop in the other and only have so much time to get something done, you can’t resist the temptations of quick information. Our society lives at such a fast paste that although we may not have much to do in the day but we choose to get things done at the quickest paste possible. The Internet, sources such as Google, and technology in general may not be making our society “stupid” but in the end the increase in laziness, impatience, lack of attention, and no motivation to take time and get work done may be the downfall of us all in the near future.
ReplyDeleteJust like Madison and Luc F, I too fully agree with Nicholas Carr, the author of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” Just like Madison I found myself opening new windows to check face book, or E-mail multiple times throughout the reading. I also found myself having to reread certain paragraphs after realizing my thought process had been wandering off to other subjects entirely, a problem that I have been having all too often in the past year. Bruce Friedman wrote in the article that “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print.” I can really relate to this, I used to love reading, in fact I still love a good book, I just find the task of sitting down and reading all too impossible with all the distractions, and my own lack of concentration. Relating back to what Madison wrote, I too believe that reading is an important skill, and because of the internet we have become too lazy to use it properly. I believe our minds have become so accustomed to flashes of information that we are now adept at taking in short bits of a lot of different information, as opposed to taking in long strands of more specific information. We are giving up quality readings for a quantity of skimming. The internet has not only made us too lazy to read, but has actually rewired our brains to discourage us from reading longer texts.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree and disagree with Nicholas Carr in his article. He mentions in his article that, “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else do to.” I have to one hundred percent agree with this statement. Just as I was reading this article I got to about the third page and I just started thinking about something else, and just as Madison did pulled up another tab on the internet and looked at my facebook. Also just as Madison did I found myself skimming through the paragraphs before realizing I needed to reread what I had just skimmed. Also, Dominque mentioned in her blog post that it takes more time to read the information in a textbook that we need to find, whereas the internet only takes a short amount of time to find exactly what you’re looking for and there is more than one source to base the facts on. This is exactly true. However, Google is helping us become more intellectual and become more interested in what’s happening around us. Many people don’t read a newspaper anymore they just hop on the computer and find the newspaper they want to read online. I also have to agree with Dominque when she is supporting her point that its more natural to just get on the computer and email someone rather than take a good amount of time writing a letter to someone. Nicholas Carr makes good points in his article but I just don’t think that the entire article can be agreed upon.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr I kept finding myself agreeing with him through out the entire article. Certain parts gave me a laugh because they were very accurate. For example Carr states, “I get fidgety, lose the thread, and begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text.” This was humorous because while trying to get through this rather simple article I managed to text me friend, check my facebook, call my dad, and take my vitamins while returning to the article each time with no further understanding of his writing. I completely agreed when Luc F wrote, “With Google being an information super highway, convenience has outweighed proper learning which has led to a whole generation of people seeming to have fragmented knowledge of various subjects.” Google can be helpful to find supportive information in an argument with its direct links. However, people relay way too heavily on Google. A person of this generation has trouble comprehending information because they read a bullet point on Google rather than reading and processing information, as one should. The internet has created an escape goat for our society. In an attempt to make all the world’s information accessible to the information that one’s brain isn’t privy to, the creators have under minded one’s ability to read and analyze. As Google continues to move forward and to isolate and organized information, people need to revert back to learning to process and understand different materials without depending to Google’s opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” From the origins of reading and writing, it is evident that the two have changed both shape and form over time. Leading to our current position, the contents of an entire public library can be found through access into the world wide web. The desire for convenience and speed has catalysed the development of newer technologies, replacing the once “modern” machines, which had previously improved our standard of living. On that note, how can writing and reading not be expected to transform when the environment surrounding its origination has been constantly changing? Carr noted, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” He states how the form of reading has changed; his mind now “expects” to gain certain excerpts from a source. However, hasn’t this always been the case? For most research papers, students must seek certain evidence to support their claim. It would only make sense to try and obtain expected evidence. However though I do not believe Google is making us “stupid,” I hold the view that it has altered the way we read and write rather than lessen our mental capacities. Just as the typewriter transformed the way previous writers wrote their works, the internet has followed the same path, contributing its own input into the world of reading and writing. Similar to Dominique’s disposition, I feel that the internet will ultimately make us more intelligent by exposing larger amounts of written works that would not be obtainable unless it were for an web of articles.
ReplyDeleteWhen I opened the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I looked at how many pages it was and instantly thought about just scanning it. But as I started reading Nicholas Carr was talking about exactly my reaction to this piece. Most of our generation is on the computer for hours on end just looking at random sites and probably just on Facebook. But while on those sites we just look for the things in bold or maybe even a short description because we don’t have the desire to read a whole article. Personally while I was reading this piece my mind wondered off at least five times just thinking about anything and everything and Carr mentions this. He says that Google has made our attention span so much smaller than what it used to be, we barely have the patience to read a one page paper let alone a whole book. Now we want things to be brief and straight to the point so we can move on to the next thing that grabs our attention. There are just so many distractions on any web page you go on, there are pop ups, banners on the side of the page and even videos that automatically play when you enter the site. But as Carr said “the doomsayers were unable to imagine the myriad blessings the printed word would deliver.” The Net does have its blessings and does have its setbacks but it all depends how you use the web to your advantage.
ReplyDeleteGoogle may just be changing our lives for good but it’s not making our race any less intelligent. The internet’s benefits are speaking volumes again its cons. Nicholas Carr, toward the beginning talks about how the internet is handicapping people so they can’t concentrate on a longer article. In my opinion that’s not the internet’s fault, it’s just our expectation or knowledge that we can retain all the information we need in one paragraph. We have simply developed a smaller patience for the long drawn out writing pieces. If I wanted to sit down and read a whole book, I could easily sit down a whole book. It’s not like we are losing that ability. Carr says “Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives.” This line is really saying that we all have one machine to do it all for us. It answers questions and types words for us. It is vital to a scholastic environment today. So how could he possibly figure the internet is ruining us? Madison compared a Google search to a book very well. She said that when you look something up in a book, you expect to have to comb through and number of pages, but the same does not hold true with an internet search. A few key words and before you know it you are reading the perfect informational lines. She also points out the validity of the internet. Everyone can put stuff up so being able to decipher the good from the bad is key. All in all I have to disagree with Mr.Carr. The internet is changing the way something’s are accessed but for the most part it’s all for the better.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Carr when he says, “I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.” I read so much on the Internet and text regularly, but still can’t put down a book when I start reading. I feel like Google is a helpful tool, it allows you to do research that would usually take a while much quicker. I agree with Dominique when she says “ Google is not changing the way people are thinking and reacting, if anything it is making us more knowledgeable.” Google is allowing us to quickly find information that we are curious about, I use Google to help me with pretty much everything, and anything you need to know Google has to offer. Carr says, "Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I've got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after." Google allows us to more efficiently complete our work, therefore Google is not changing the way we think or how we react, but it is allowing us to work smarter and not harder.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” I agree with Madison and Luc that I no longer have the patience or am capable of keeping my concentration when reading an article that is more than three or four paragraphs long. I think that surfing the internet to do some research does cut half of time in half that it would take you to find what you’re searching for, rather than if you were in a library reading through different books. However the process of scanning different books brings you more knowledge than you needed to know. I feel as though we no longer have the patience and appreciation for writing that there used to be years ago. Now and days why would someone read a long book that requires patience and much concentration rather than go see the movie? Even Nicholas Carr mentioned that, “Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether.” The Internet has spoiled us with giving us facts and main points about what it is we are looking for. Rarely will I read an entire article on a website, when I can simply scan through and find my answer and simply jump to another website to search for the answer to my next question. Because we are so spoiled with finding our research in an instant and just scanning through from article to article, the thought of us reading more than three to four paragraphs or more than a couple of pages, makes us groan inside. The Internet is making us dumber and dumber by the day, because the less and less we read because of the convenience of the Internet, the less knowlegable we become.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe the internet is changing the way people think. I disagree with Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google making us Stupid?” The convenience of the net, or the world’s biggest search engine, Google, is not causing people to not want to read large articles anymore. The world has become faster paced and this can be seen through new technology being developed; the internet being one. Therefore, many people do not sit down in a library and read a book to get information anymore. Why do that when we can get the same information in the comfort of our own homes? Carr states that the internet has “altered our mental habits.” Kyra stated something that I totally agreed with. She said that people are too “lazy” to actually do research correctly. Today, people tend to have less time to do anything. The article says that people bounce from link to link and do not take the time to actually read the whole article. We’ve developed a skill called “skimming.” Although this may be true, it may not be a significant use of evidence, since people do the same thing when reading books, newspapers, or articles. Once again this issue seems to be correlated to time and not the internet. People are finding the quickest way to get information. Google is not making us stupid. Although Google does provide a vast amount of information, there is no way that it is making us stupid. In fact I believe it is doing the opposite. Sometimes my friends might ask a random question, and when in doubt, they Google their question. In this way, they learn something new. Google is just a faster way of getting us information. I agree with what Sammy stated. He believes that Google is not the cause of us stopping from reading or skimming a reading. I believe we are being distracted by other things. Back in the days, people didn’t have TVs like we did. So they spent more time reading than we do today.
ReplyDeleteThe vast deep reservoir of information known as Google and the internet in general is not making us more stupid as a population, but rather it is making us more intelligent. I disagree with Carr’s Stance that internet is making us less intelligent instead I think it is revolutionizing the way our brains function. Carr reinforces my idea with this statement from the article, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” Google is allowing our minds to evolve and form new learning patterns, since the internet shoots out information at us constantly at rapid speeds our brain being forced to learn to process information faster and faster thus grooming a super computer brain which can think and process information much faster than the generations before us which was deficient of the technology which we possess today. Learning new information was a much more tedious task many years ago, when all there was to rely on were books and periodicals in libraries which were sometimes misplaced, mislabeled, or even stolen. Not only does the internet provide us with more knowledge it enhances our ability to obtain important information through communication. Sometimes the most important and valid information are the things we become privy to as soon as they take place the internet allows for the most current and up to date information to be shared with the world at all times whether it be though mediums such as articles, chat, email, blogs, pictures, videos etc. I agree with a point Jared Zimmerman made in his blog about there being different writing styles when one is typing on a computer versus using a typewriter or pen and paper. I find that whenever I am typing on the computer regardless of my subject or my audience I feel disconnected from what I am writing but when I use pen and paper my writing feels more personal. I think the same concept may be applied to reading from a book and reading from a computer screen. Although computers are the new learning fast track, you don’t get that traditional learning feel or personal connection with the material that is being learned.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google making us Stupid?” Google has so many purposes that can help a person with many questions. I agree with Dominique that it's quick and to the point instead of reading extra "fluff" that might be unnecessary. I don't believe that a website can make us less intelligent. I definitely don't read as much as I used to but I'm not blaming it on the internet. I blame it on not having as much time as I used to when I was younger. Car says "Now my concentration starts to drift after two or three pages". He claims that Google is making us dumber but maybe his concentration is drifting because what he's reading isn't holding his attention. That happens to most of us. I agree with everyone who said they got easily distracted from reading this assignment, it's because the reading didn't keep everyone's attention, not because we are stupid from using Google. My dad always brings up how good I have it compared when he was in college. He didn't have internet and that forced him to have long hours at the library to find one thing for a paper.Google gives us the opportunity to look up anything in the world and gives us a direct answer instead of searching and wasting time elsewhere. Because of that, I believe that Google makes us more knowledgeable.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree I think that Google is in fact making us stupid. It’s that need for speed that wanting it right at that moment. I can only speak for experience and I must say I find it very difficult to read a long article or speech. Even as I was reading “is Google making us stupid”, I found myself going back and looking at something else to do online or making my way to facebook. I went from reading something one time to I have to read them sometimes three times to comprehend what exactly I’m reading. As stated in the article “reading is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is.” This means we have to teach our minds ourselves how to read and comprehend the information that we are reading. So, when we have something so dominant such as the internet that we use almost every day depending on the person, it is going to have some sort of an effect on the way we come across information. We want information speedily and in bits and pieces of information, that’s why we find ourselves skimming information such as a long article instead of reading it and getting impatient when our computer is taking longer than we think we can possibly wait. So all in all I agree with this article the internet is taking a toll on what we want to read how much we want to read and when we want to read.
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