Is Google Making Us Stupid Summary

In our culture today we see the progression of how technology has affected our social makeup. In “Is Google Making us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the writer makes clear that our current use of technology has diminished our ability to think critically. While one could agree with Carr’s point, there is also an issue that has a greater level of concern. Our ability to think critically about the information we gather is only a resultant consequence of the population’s new-found focus on technology rather than relating intentionally. Why is it that our current social constructs are made up almost entirely of technology? What happened to the time when humans interacted outside of their obsession to seek comfort from what lacks any empathy (their phones), rather than real humans?

It is true that people are becoming more and more reliant on the internet to do everyday tasks. I feel that Carr addresses the issue perfectly in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. If we continue to use technology for everything, we will eventually lose all ability to deep read and make those critical connections that are necessary for true comprehension and application. He indicates that “the more [he] uses the web, the more he has to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (736). Knowing how difficult it was to read and analyze Carr’s article myself, I fully agree with his claims. Having grown up in a world that has always had technology, I must be hyper-cognizant of the task at hand when it comes to something such as reading, particularly if it is something that I deem less than interesting. When I was finally able to get through the entire essay, I started to think about how much I use the internet. I must admit that

In Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he discusses the negative impacts that technology has had on human intelligence and how technology is going to pass up humankind. Carr’s main point is that point is that due to modern innovations like the internet, himself and the rest of mankind have slowly lost the ability to read in-depth and focus on complex tasks. He also argues that companies like google are working to create innovations in Artificial Intelligence, causing technology to eventually pass up humanity. Carr believes that technology is important, but it will eventually lead to our demise.

American writer, Nicholas G. Carr, in The Atlantic July/ August 2008 Issue titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” argues that the amount of time we spend online, especially google, has caused us to lose our minds by “tinkering” with our brains, “reprograming our memory,” and changing the way in which we process information. Carr’s purpose is to contribute to the idea that “Google” along with other online tools, is programing us to be less attentive and to the inhibition of our critical thinking skills. Guided by personal experiences, subjectivity, presumptions, Carr concludes that our reliance on google and other online apparatuses has caused us to become “machinelike,” claiming that the understanding we have of the world and is “mediated” by computers, flattening our intelligence and converting it into artificial intelligence with no value. Carr’s theory is un-logical because it is based on presumptions that overgeneralize the role that online tools like google play on our lives, based on the experiences and opinions of a few. By ignoring the complexities of these tools and the numerous features they have to offer which help enable us to expand our way of thinking and analyzing information, Carr incorrectly assumes that because the amount of information we are gathering and attaining from online apparatuses like google, that we are becoming hollow computer like entities with little to no intelligence.

In his essay, “Is Google Making us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr addresses the fears that many people share about the World Wide Web: that it is rerouting our brains, making it difficult to concentrate effectively. Carr uses personal experiences about his loss of concentration that has become more evident after using the internet. Rather than reading texts in-depth, our brains have become accustomed to skimming over information. Carr’s view on technology is that by relying on knowledge that we are being handed, we are becoming humans with artificial thoughts. He fears the internet could be a monster living in our homes. He is afraid of technology making us an indolent race. I think that the internet can make us lazy, but that doesn’t necessarily correlate to becoming “stupid.” Carr only focuses on the negative altercations that the internet has on our lives. Due to this, he comes off as oblivious to the transformation that we are undergoing with this new technology. The internet is making us change our focus from absorbing time consuming information. Instead, we have shifted our attention to learning information in a timely manner. Over the years, more ways to access the internet have emerged, opening up a whole new world for us. Instead of socializing and working in print, we are delving into a “visual world.” Alternatively, we are being introduced into being able to personally create, develop and consume information. Hearing information from a teacher is being substituted for

How many times a day do you find yourself reading a book or long article but cannot seem to concentrate? This seems to be happening a lot lately, to many people especially the younger generations. In Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he addresses this recurring problem as it overcomes him as well. He tries to figure out why so many have this same problem by asking others, looking back through history, using current studies and so on. Carr’s article shows how peoples deep seeded need or more of a want can turn into a struggle with a technology obsession.

With the advent of Worldwide Web, telephones, telegraphs and other technologies human race has advanced with a speed, which was never even imagined few decades, down the line. Many people have been impacted with this change and a lot of people have questioned the effects of Internet on cognitive abilities and Human brain. There has been a debate to this argument whether Internet has a negative impact on cognition and human brain thus de-humanizing the human race or is it benefitting us by reaching the unimagined areas and achieving a comfortable lifestyle and setting us free from the shackles of stressful efforts.

Throughout history, no single piece of technology has been so heavily relied upon such as the internet. Things such as the first car, the first telephone, and even the first airplanes were not as easily, or readily accessible as the Net is today. In all reality, the internet is the greatest and most useful tool that humanity has ever dreamt up. From instant transferring of data to endless sources of information, the Net not only connects all corners of the world, but makes each and every person more knowledgeable and self-aware. But as with all new and virtuous things, there is a darker and more dangerous side. The internet is a tool that consumes the intellectual, changing the way the brain functions and ultimately creating a reliance. This reliance is so severe that all of life’s functions depend on the internet without the same dependency being reciprocated. The relationship is one sided, where the Net has much to gain while the user has little. Furthermore, in its relatively new state, the internet is very obscure and has very questionable ethics. Although beneficial in specific cases, the internet affects one’s emotional state and latently mars cognitive function while creating a devastatingly powerful and coercive reliance.

Nicholas Carrs article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” makes points that I agree with, although I find his sources to be questionable. The article discusses the effects that the Internet may be having on our ability to focus, the difference in knowledge that we now have, and our reliance on the Internet. The points that are made throughout Carrs article are very thought provoking but his sources make them seem invaluable.

Stephen Covey stated, “Every human has four endowments – self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These gives us the ultimate human freedom…. The power to choose, to respond, to change ("Independence Quotes." Brainy Quote. Xplore. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.).” The Declaration of Independence allows people to do whatever they please as long as it’s within the law, but Google is restraining what people can really do. It may not seem that a search engine can limit people, but one needs to think about the many things Google consists of that doesn’t allow people to choose what they want to do. Nicholas Carr, the author of “The Shallows”, which talks about what the internet is doing to peoples’ brains, also writes an article containing evidence on how Google is putting restrictions on humans. In Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he explains that Google and the Net are affecting the quality of life, because Google is stripping people’s sense of independence.

The continuous advancement of technology has made it easier for people to interact, work, trade, communicate, and travel. However, the extensive innovations have created an element of dependence on people. In the article Is Google Making Us Stupid? Nicholas Carr informs the reader on the dangers of relying on the internet through the utilization of symbols, anecdotes, pathos or appealing to people’s sentiments, and ethos. Carr writes, “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive” (27). The phrase captures his deep sentiments concerning how Google’s progressive development has altered man’s entire though processing system. The author argues that the availability of the internet has

While both authors present some of the positive effects of technology, as mentioned above, to us, each of them addresses different issues on how exactly uses of technology and technological improvements negatively impact human life. As people become addicted to the valuable web efficiency, it turns out that the Internet serves to be quite harmful towards human cognition in such that it diminishes the capacity of human concentration and contemplation. As Carr says in “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, “media supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought” (Carr 2). In other words, Internet is controlling and changing the way we think or consume information and thus, flattering our own intelligence into “artificial intelligence” (Carr 8). People nowadays are so used to the information provided by the Internet that they do not rely on their own knowledge or think on their own like they used to prior to the advent of Internet. An instance that reflects this idea of self-manipulation is shown in Carr’s own statement, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski” (Carr 2). Even though Carr does not go onto to say that he is becoming vacuous, he believes that his mind is changing due to spending so much time on the web over the last several years. Before, he was very much engaged

In the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? Nicolas Carr attempts to explain how the internet is making people less intelligent. He believes that it is changing the way people use their minds to think. This could affect reading, or just regular problem solving. Carr’s main statement is that the internet is making it too easy for us, therefore making our minds start to get lazy and make it easier to lose focus on simple tasks. He gives examples from personal experiences he has been realizing throughout his years, such as when Carr says “My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think.” He is saying that he knows that he is not going crazy because he feels completely normal but, he does feel that something is off within his mind, and things are not the same as they used to be. In contrast, since it’s all at our fingertips our brains do not want to work as hard to get things done. He states that he cannot even read a semi long article without losing focus and wanting to start doing something else, something as small as four paragraphs is now too long for the writer to read. To further progress his argument, Carr describes, the way he used to think and do things, to the way he now processes and does things.

In sections, he contrasted from his pattern to get on the level of the reader to relay the message of the essay better. He does this deviation from his writing routine when he is in his narrative recollections of how he

Our culture today undergoes progression in how technology has affected our social makeup. In “Is Google Making us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the writer makes clear that our current use of technology has diminished our ability to think critically. While one could agree with Carr’s point, there is also an issue that has a greater level of concern. Our ability to think critically about the information we gather is only a resultant consequence of the population’s new-found focus on technology rather than relating intentionally. Why is it that technology makes up our current social construct almost entirely ? What happened to the time when humans interacted outside of their obsession to seek comfort from what lacks any empathy (their phones), rather than real humans?