Nicolas Carr, an author and researcher, insinuates that people who use computers and the internet are becoming more shallow human beings and that this technological tool, despite its advantages that are applauded by many, is harming society as a whole. Carr has discussed these thoughts in his book The Shallows, on television in an interview with Stephen Colbert, and in an article in The Atlantic entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” While Carr believes that the internet has its place and that it has been extremely helpful to him as a researcher and writer, he also believes that the internet encourages multitasking and boosts superficiality. I share these same thoughts with Carr. While the internet has been extremely helpful in producing a more efficient and fast-paced environment, it has at the same time produced challenges and weaknesses in our society, like multitasking and frivolity.
Multitasking is a standard way of life in today’s society. Carr believes that this
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Carr also comments that the internet makes people more shallow –thus the title of his well-known book. This is because the internet takes away from attentive thinking. The internet constantly bombards its viewers with a lot of varying information and because of this the viewer is forced to multitask and loses focus of any original, contemplative thoughts. This multitasking effect is a key element to the very design and business model of the internet, as Carr suggests in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The faster a computer user can read and click, in other words the more the user can multitask, the more he/she gets to see, and the “more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.” Thus, in the end, internet multitasking negatively affects users but positively benefits the inventors and marketers. William Badke expounds upon this very idea in his article “How Stupid Is Google Making Us?” According