Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

The internet, in short, is our everyday savior when in distress. Technology is our main source of communication in the 21st century. However, according to Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, published in the July/August 2008 issue of the Atlantic, the internet is reprogramming his memory, and remapping his neural circuitry. Carr accuses the internet of taking away his focus and concentration.Even though Carr uses logos intensely and multiple rhetorical approaches in convincing the reader of his point of view, he fails to make a logical, persuading argument for multiple reasons.

In Nicholas Carr’s, “Is google making us stupid,” Carr indicates a problem that affects a majority of the internet users; that being as time we spend on the internet increases, the more we are diminishing our intellectual ability, and loosing the ability to become intertwined in a lengthy article or an extended book. He is suggesting that the technology we are in contact with on a daily basis, has a negative effect on our cognitive ability, and is forcing our brain’s to evolve. Throughout the article, Carr argues the negative effect media, mainly the internet, is having on his capacity and concentration: he effectively argues his point through the uses of many rhetoric appeals, that draw in the reader. His use of logos, compares the past and

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he claims that the Internet is changing the way our minds work, and that it has negative consequences on the mind. He informs his intended audience of frequent Internet users, that even as a writer, his mind struggles to keep focused on a book. The reason for this occurrence, he theorizes, is due to advancing technologies that have poisoned his mind. His text is primarily organized by discussing the topic of whether or not the Internet is making its users stupid and then supporting it with

Carr writes articles and books on technology, business, and culture, and has written for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a well established writer and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2011. Carr wrote this article because he found himself having a hard time focusing on any type of deep reading, something that he feels is very important to having a well rounded mind. He emphasizes that because the internet is structured to be a massive amount of information read one small piece at a time, our minds are starting to reflect that. He is writing for an intellectual audience who are probably for the most part highly educated. His audience would be those who can see the importance of the way that we consume information, and how our brains use that information. His writing in this article does a very good job of reaching that audience thanks to his obvious knowledge on the subject, and how he relates to his

Nicholas Carr’s article on The Atlantic asks us to question what effect the Internet has on our brains. At the time this article was written, the Internet was becoming more and more apart of our daily routine as many find themselves using it for work purposes or simply for leisure. Carr, as a seemingly literary type himself, says, “Computers are changing the normal thinking process” causing not only him but also many others to struggle reading. Nicholas Carr wrote this article to bring to attention the webs effect on our mind and how it has turned us into page skimmers and information decoders who can no longer focus on reading a piece in its entirety. In “Is Google Making us Stupid?” published on to The Atlantic’s issue in July/August of 2008, Carr, through emotional, and logical appeals, imagery and structure, successfully crafts his argument on the drifting concentration due to computers and internet use.

When we need to look for a definition of a word, where do we go? Google. When we want to search for more details about a breaking news that just came out on television, where do we go? Google. Whether it is for school or work, the main source that people rely on to get enough information is Google. Nicholas Carr, the writer of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” claims that the internet has been detrimental for human beings by the way they process information into their brains, their own way of thinking, and creating negative effects upon concentration. Carr uses plenty of different methods to prove his point such as, playing the audience’s emotions while using anecdotes, sharing his observations from his own perspective and using research. He believes that everyone should be skeptical of the internet because of the way it might be shaping the way we think. A comparison between the past and the present are is told to let the readers know how it changed not only him, but others as well.

Nicholas Carr thinks that as the internet is becoming our primary source of medium, its affecting the way we focus and contemplate. Which In long term will reprogram our brains. The Author feels like someone has been tinkering with his brain. He can no longer could read long context because he can’t keep focus. After speaking with his friend’s they found out they shared the same problem. He believes the internet has change the way he thinks.

People are introduced to a new technological advancement almost everyday. Some of them make our lives easier; however, every good thing has a bad side. Some influential events may be causes of really adverse effects on the way of our lives. Without doubt, invention of the Internet is one of the most powerful events world-wide. Thanks to the Internet, lots of things such as communication, research, bank transactions, shopping, etc. can be done within just a couple of seconds. While the Internet provides us these incredible conveniences, some negates would be inevitable on people. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, published by The Atlantic Magazine, in 2008, Nicholas Carr talks about these adverse affects of the Internet. He claims that the internet is changing our research habits and the way we reach information in a negative manner.

Nicolas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid” examines the way the internet’s instant information is shaping the way we process and retrieve information. Rather than gaining knowledge through many grueling hours of research at the library reading through every book that may or may not give you information, now a simple click on a website or link can produce information in seconds. With an instant gratification of retrieving information, over time, patience with reading long, drawn out research material is diminished. “I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do…. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” (Carr, 1)

The internet is our conduit for accessing a wide variety of information. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr discusses how the use of the internet affects our thought process in being unable to focus on books or longer pieces of writing. The author feels that “someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain” over the past few years (Carr 731). While he was easily able to delve into books and longer articles, Carr noticed a change in his research techniques after starting to use the internet. He found that his “concentration often [started] to drift after two or three pages” and it was a struggle to go back to the text (Carr 732). His assertion is that the neural circuits in his brain have changed as a

Nicholas Carr’s story about Google tells us about how we are on the site spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing too. He claims that the Web is a godsend, and it is the truth because when we are on the internet looking at Google it can help us find things. Bruce Friedman, who blogs all the time about the use of computers in medicine has described how being on the internet had changed his mental habits. He claims “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print.” Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University, says that when we read online we tend to become “Mere decoders of information.”

In 2008, Nicholas Carr wrote a very profound article explaining how the internet that everyone has believed to be a useful tool in society and something to help us learn and grow, was actually making us less intelligent. On the first page of the article he starts to explain his own personal tribulations that the internet has caused him, like how his attention span was lessened by the immediate access of the internet. The reason his attention span was dwindling was because of the readily quick information on the internet that is easily accessible by the click of a button. Reading from the internet has caused him to scan things to get the gist of what the article is actually saying that he is reading. He talked to many others and he realized

In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is Doing to our Brains,” Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has altered, possibly not in a good way, how people use their cognitive mind. Today, most everyone is getting on a computer and using the internet to do research, read an article, or scan the news in all its forms. They don’t realize that how they now read and research, with the use of the internet, has weakened their mind cognitively. The Internet, according to the author, is modifying the way that people read and take in knowledge through their senses.

Carr specifically is writing about the internet that has evolved over time. He claims that people are starting not to understand the readings. People use to read books and “go to libraries to look for research and now with a click of a button its at our finger tips.” He thinks people are just skimming through articles and books. He even goes on to say that his co-workers and fellow writers are started to skim.

Society experiences new forms of technology every day that help make the lives of many individuals easier. Throughout the personal essay Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr, the author discusses his belief on how the internet is slowly filling people with false information. Carr starts of by expressing how the internet is causing him to have issues with focusing, such as not being able to remain completely focused while reading a book. Carr mentions how his life has become completely surrounded by the internet and feels it is the blame for him not being able to connect with a piece of writing. However, he later states that he sees the internet as being useful for it has allowed for quick access to information that is essential to his writing. This holds true for society in general, as the internet has allowed for individuals to have necessary information at their fingertips. Carr’s essay about the negative impact internet has on individual thought is reinforced by two similar articles that discuss the effects of the internet on society.