Storm E. Fort
GSW 1110
Jay Jones
3 November 2015
Is the Internet Efficient or Inefficient?
When the word Google comes to mind, there are various things to speak on. Google can be named a number of things depending on whose being asked. If someone asked a student what Google is to him or her, they would say that Google is the answer to everything. Others would say that Google is a reliable search engine. I agree with both answers, but if a brief survey was given to a group and they questions asked them if Google is “making them stupid” would they agree or disagree? As funny as the question may sound, it actually is something to think about and reflect on. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he introduced great points on why the internet in the twenty-first century makes us very dependent or in his words, stupid. Carr has noticed different behaviors he’s picked up while reading large articles or books and he believes that it is the internet to blame. The author of “Is Google making us Stupid?” argues that today’s society is becoming ignorant and losing effective comprehension skills.
According to the author, he has developed a new way of reading. When Carr reads a lengthy book or article he indicates that his brain is not on the same track as it once was. The author believes that before the internet and/or text messaging came about it was easier to handle large scale readings. Now that the internet has expanded it is the first source of that people look to for answers. his makes it easier for us to rely on the web instead of information on print. Not only does Google hand the answers to us, it is a lot easier to find what we are searching for. Carr says that giving us the answer is one of the reasons that we skim read. Skim reading makes us only pay attention to what we want to know and it does not help us fully understand. When we skim it causes us to skip over other significant pieces to our answers. For example, we may miss the “how to” of our answers or the cause and effect of what we want to know. This problem forces us to lack comprehension. Without comprehension, how are we learning from the information that we take in? Carr mentioned how he believes that the internet has made an influence on printing companies. In the article, Nicholas Carr researched that TheNew York Times has adjusted to the internet’s pace:
When, in March of this year TheNew York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts , its design director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles. Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules. (Carr)
The main point of this quote ensures that Carr is explaining how we are beginning to accept being lazy and taking the easier route now. Today, consumers are so influenced by technology that the newspaper is forced to follow the internet’s trend. If readers have adjusted to quick pace reading from the internet, when they transition to print and see the same style as well it’ll become oblivious to them.
One section in “Is Google Making Us Stupid” describes how the internet has evolved to easily distract us. One example Carr used is how we receive a new e-mail that it alerts us with a sound. Carr believes that an alert is a form of a distraction. If we are focused on one situation and our minds are alerted to move to another we lose focus on what we were already doing. Another form of distraction that Carr provided was pop up ads that we see on the sides of our computer screens. If we are reading an article online or simply busy browsing the net and an ad pops up we are only getting a snippet of what we planned on absorbing. Carr believes this clutters our minds with miscellaneous material we
In the selection “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, it is mentioned how the world has jumped from print to visual/listening aid over the years and has taken the attention away from print such as books, newspapers, magazines, or letters. In 1936, Alan Turing, a British mathematician said that a digital computer “could be programmed to perform the function of any other information-processing device”. Turing was in fact correct because we use the computer and internet more than ever. The internet can be accessed anywhere at almost any time today. The internet has become an extraordinary system that subsumes other devices because now it is “our map and our clock, our printing press, and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV”. The point the author wants to make is society has become so consumed with the World Wide Web. If we’re consumed with the internet we depend on it, therefore we are unable to function without it.
Carr’s view about the internet shows that he believes that the media has brainwashed the world, but he adds one detail that contradicts his argument. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” it is mentioned how are minds are constantly evolving. Carr stated “The human brain is almost infinitely malleable”. If the mind is flexible then what effect does the internet have on our way of thinking? The brain’s flexibility can help the mind adjust to different situations in its future. The author also noted that “Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”” Professor of neuroscience James Olds proves that we have the ability to change the way think immediately. If the mind has the ability to alter itself “on the fly” then the lack of comprehension does not completely set in.
However, Dr. Nick Morgan could debate otherwise that the Internet makes us stupid. Morgan argues that the internet helps us process material quicker, but not in a lousy way. In Morgan’s article “Why the Internet Is Making Us Smarter—in One Way” he exclaims “It’s not that we’re becoming dumber, it’s rather that the object of our focus has changed. In one way, we’re actually getting smarter – much, much smarter.” This quote explains that our minds are not dumbing down, but we are only becoming easily distracted. Distractions do not affect our mental way of thinking they only affect our attention span. Another point that Morgan made about the internet making us smarter is we’re able to absorb so many pieces of information and remember them. Being exposed to so much information expands our minds further. This turns us back to what the professional neuroscientist, James Olds informed Billout about “the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.””. This quote connects back to Morgan’s article about internet efficiency because he indicated that “our ability to absorb visual information is accelerating rapidly.” If our minds are accelerating rapidly we’re getting smarter every second. Humans are creating a broader mindset from receiving so much info.
Both writers included great information and support details in both articles; however contradicted their argument. Nicholas Carr published his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” to explain the terrible effects that the internet has on the human mind and how it alters the brain in a negative way. However, the details that Carr introduced to his audience were not only details about how the internet “makes us stupid” or influences us but how the brain is easily altered. If the brain is continuously evolving all the time, how does the internet affect society so negatively? The internet’s biggest influence is we’re constantly up to date and it causes information over load. According to Nick Morgan’s article about the internet making us smarter agrees with the theory that as technology moves, we keep up with that pace.
Now, the real question is, is Google making us lazy or stupid? The internet does not make us stupid; however it influences us to move in a quicker pace than we did before. Several benefits are received when you think on a swift pace. When you think quickly there is a great chance of comprehending information easier. If the mind has the ability to comprehend easily, the knowledge that is received will not be a challenge to reciprocate.
Work Cited
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company.
01 July 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Morgan, Nick, Dr. “Why the Internet Is Making Us Smarter–in One Way.” Forbes.
Forbes Magazine. 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.