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Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

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Technology is advancing very rapidly, but that does not necessarily mean it is benefiting society. In the article, “ Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr explores how the internet alters people’s mental abilities. Malcolm Gladwell writes an article titled, “ 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 mental abilities, changes thought processes, and destroys concentration, complicates Gladwell’s thesis that the internet loses the meaning of social activism, changes how activist are defined, and takes over activism on a social level. The arguments presented are similar but the outcomes of the internet vary between the two writers. …show more content…

“Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore” (Carr 32). The internet has taken a personal toll on Carr, in which he cannot even look at a long piece of writing, because it has become so unfamiliar to him. He has become accustomed to the internet, and therefore replaces his passion of reading. “But there is something else at work here, in the outsized enthusiasm for social media. Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is” (Gladwell 44). Gladwell strongly feels that the internet has created this loss of social activism in the world, in which the internet has redefined what protesting used to stand for. Protests during the civil rights movement, was a method for people to bring about change, but since the creation of the internet people use it as a way to replace protesting. Carr believes that the internet creates a loss of reading while Gladwell thinks it creates a loss of the meaning of social activism. Though they both can agree that the internet creates a loss, they see it as two different losses, in which Carr’s argument complicates

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Nicholas Carr’s essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” discusses the benefits and dangers associated with technology, and the internet, or Google is the focus of the essay. He argues that technology is changing humans cognitive thought process, and not in a healthy way. Carr admits that he notices the changes in his own ability to concentrate and comprehend lengthy readings. Not only does he express concern about his own capability of reading he also mentions several other bloggers, and philosophers’ experiences with their ability to decipher long articles. Moreover, he emphasizes historical technologies that have influenced change in our intellectuality such as, the typewriter, the printing press, and the mechanical clock.

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In “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr argues that Google is deteriorating the human mind. He mentions that people no longer want or even need to deeply read information and retain it because the particular information that they are looking for can just be Googled. In fact, he argues against this by stating that everything is not available on Google, and things that are available on Google are not necessarily true. Another con of this, he states, is that it is extremely difficult to read off of a computer screen. Carr argues that people’s brains are not programmed to read something in depth if it is off of a computer or phone screen.

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In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Nicholas Carr expresses his idea that, due to mankind’s constant use of the internet, people are losing their ability to read long pieces of literature. He says the internet may offer a faster answer to a question one might have, but the experience of actually having to research a topic for days at a time lessens the actual knowledge that is gained. Carr speaks of his own way of thinking being changed as his use of the internet became greater. He also states that he is not the only one being effected; offering up instances where his friends’ thought processing has also begun to dwindle for their constant use of the internet. Carr even references how Friedrich Nietzsche’s writing changed after he began to use

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As previously mentioned, Carr likely wants his audience to critically think about the internet; persuasion that the internet might bring about intellectual tragedy comes second to that. Personally, a lot of his examples of ethos are effective only if the “authorities” mentioned were familiar names. For example, the bloggers were people I have never heard of, and thus, their testimonies are the same value to me as the testimonies of someone who posts on Twitter. However, in gauging whether he succeeded in getting me to think about the internet more, Carr definitely succeeded. All in all then, Carr’s article was one that wants to critically challenge thought by revealing the points of view from both side and letting the readers make their own

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He attempts to show us in his essay how our minds have changed due to the use of the Internet. Summary Nicholas Carr examines in an essay how digital technology affects our intelligence. Nicholas was educated at Dartmouth and Harvard and is a member of Encyclopedia Britannica’s editorial board of advisors. He has written a book name “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from

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In the narrative “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr, writer of technology and culture, argues that the instinctive animal that we are, are becoming more equivalent to robotic forms. To support this main idea, Carr suggest internet technology is exerting our animal like brains once processing in old media clock style, to the use of new technology which is awakening our “plastic like brains” to fold and shape not only in cognitive ways but also neurologically. Nicholas Carr emphasizes this through his own distractions while reading on the internet to researching how people’s adaptation and interactions with this technology is remapping their process of viewing text to their methodology of thought through notable personage’s experiences

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He includes quotes from large, technology tycoons who believe that advancement in technology is beneficial because it is making information more accessible and more useful. Carr counters this claim by stating that with the large advancements that technology “Is doing the work of the mind” (324). While he addresses naysayers in his argument he does not completely dismiss their ideas, instead discussing them in a calm way that builds his credibility with the reader. Though Carr believes the most important thing that technology is doing is getting close to replacing human thinking, he discusses the ideas that people believe could be a positive. His rational discussion of the opposition makes him appear knowledgeable to the reader which further builds his argument.

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Although Carr begins with addressing a question in the title, a more specific definition of the exact problem that the argument tackles is, “Is the internet changing the way we think and behave by making us read and process information differently?” (Young, Becker, & Pike, 1970, p. 92). Carr answers this “question of fact” with his main claim that yes, the internet is changing the way we think (Young, Becker, & Pike, 1970, p. 94). His grand strategy is an equal combination of “argument by analogy” and “ethotic argument”

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Advancements in technology have been made up to a point where it is changing the way we think about social matters and how we respond and act towards a specific social matter. Everyday our brains adapt to the way technology works and therefore create a different “output” action-- it will change the way we respond to a certain social issue. Comparing present-day “activism” and the activism from the 60s, it can be seen that indeed, technology has played a great role towards our view and definition of activism, and what being an activist really means. Both Nicholas Carr’s essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, and Malcolm Gladwell’s essay, “Small Change,” both exemplify the way in which technology can be both a positive and negative influence in

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Carr believe the internet changes the way we think. In my opinion, Carr story was to influence, not persuade. In Nicholas Carr’s essay, “Is google making us

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In Nicholas Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid” I disagree that his use of support doesn’t work to make his point in this essay because it is too biased. Carr’s article shows a lot of support to his hate towards the internet by quoting himself along with his other fellow writers who are a part of an older generation like Carr himself and only includes one study from University College London. Carr mainly focuses on his anecdotes to help support his essay which really doesn’t give the audience actual information, although he makes a compelling point that Google or the internet itself is making us stupid, but what Carr has not included was any evidence about the good parts about the internet. What Carr was lacking in his essay was that

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In the article Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr asserts his claim that the Internet might have negative effects on cognition, potentially tapering with our capacity for concentration and contemplation, therefore making us incapable of holding a long attention span especially while reading a lengthy text. In short, Carr is trying to argue that the Internet has shaped our way of thinking and attentiveness. Though technology may have changed our way of thinking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are unable to understand and make connections with long texts. At one point in his article, Carr quotes James Olds as saying, “The brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

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Thompson states how it is possible to maintain mindfulness as long as there is no laziness while reading. This means that taking the time to read all articles thoroughly will be beneficial in the long run, for skimming articles leads to an unsavory habit of getting complacent while reading. Su and Thompson both display their fear when it comes to how the Internet is affecting our social behaviors. They discuss how it is leading to people becoming less sociable and more likely to dodge social events. Carr argues for his concerns involving the Internet, including how it is affecting his ability to pay attention to long pieces of literature and how other scholars alike are having similar complications.

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In this article Gladwell makes sure to clearly define his thesis by also acknowledging that not all technology is bad. In fact recognizing that social media is a great way to motivate and inspire while also educating with new ideals, he just thinks that activism through social media is not the same. Gladwell also disagrees with social media activism because there is no structure, and is held together by “weak ties”.

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In his article, Small Changes, Malcolm Gladwell goes in depth on the revolution of social media and its impact it has in society. In addition, Gladwell claims the threat social media has on social media because it prevents people from having face to face conversations and it leads to more interactions through the networks social media has to offer not having a strong ability to create a change in the world. Although Gladwell claims otherwise and expresses his fear throughout the article, in today’s society social media has dramatically changed with its differences in the pros and cons it has to offer to the universe. Despite Gladwell’s beliefs, social media has the power to unite millions worldwide along with educating he or she on the world’s

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