Is Google Making USupid Analysis

Technology is advancing very rapidly, but is it hurting or harming us? In the article, “ Is Google Making Us Stupid”, by Nicholas Carr, he examines how the internet has altered people’s mental abilities. Malcolm Gladwell writes an article called, “ Small Change”, in which he draws attention to how the internet has changed the engagement of social activism. Carr’s argument that the internet alters a person's mental abilities, changes their thought process, and destroys their concentration complicates Gladwell’s point that the internet loses the meaning of social activism, changes how activist are defined, and it takes over activism on a social level, because the arguments presented are similar but the outcomes of the internet vary between the

Carr writes, “ I'm just seeking convenience, but because that way I THINK has changed”(33). For him, the internet is a way for him to access information quicker than using a book, or any other medium. This constant use of the internet has altered his thought process, in which he now it is easier for him to use the internet rather than reading a book. When writing about how the web has brought about change, Gladwell claims, “ Where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools. Facebook warriors go online to push for change (43).” Activists have changed their methods of bringing about change ever since the involvement of the internet, because it has become easier. Gladwell believes that because of the creation of the internet, activists now are lazy, and do not go through the strenuous methods people of the civil rights movement had to go through. Carr and Gladwell have both come to an agreement that the web has brought about a significant change. But this change is not similar, one is the change of the mental thought, while Gladwell is on the change of the methods of social

When Carr talks about how the internet is taking over his mental state he states, “And what the net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (32). The internet is no longer be used as just a tool, it is taking a mental toll on him. The internet now consumes his mind, and is creating a new state of mind in which he cannot focus for long periods of time anymore. Gladwell touches on how the internet is taking over how activists convey their feelings and argues, “It makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have an impact” (51). Being an activist in today’s time, with the advances of technology, makes a social activists way of expression through the internet easier, but at the same time the activists loses it power of impact. Carr strongly believes the internet takes over the mental capacity of one’s mind, because he is a living example of it. On the other hand, Gladwell believes the internet has taken over the methods of expression for social activists, in which their expressions are no longer has a huge impact to those compared to during the sit-ins during the civil rights