Summary Of Is Google Making Us Exile By Nicholas Carr

Has your mind ever felt reprogrammed or remapped? If the answer is yes, you are not the only one. Some individuals, such as writer Nicholas Carr, attribute this development to the internet which has become a conduit necessary for receiving information for many around the globe. Is it possible the internet we have become addicted to could potentially be altering the way we think and read? Growing up in an era where the internet has become mainstream in American life has substantially impacted how I gather information and process it. As the internet has become a universal medium for information, I have felt it rewire my process of thought and influence my concentration and cogitation which Carr relates to in his article “Is Google Making Us

Carr emphasizes Wolf’s concern about the internet promoting “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else. Wolf fears that this style of reading may be weakening our capacity for deep reading. Carr notes “Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distractions, remains largely disengaged.” The notion that the internet largely promotes immediacy above all else is an idea I am well accustomed to. Google and other websites on the internet encourage efficiency by, for example, providing a singular word or phrase answer to questions that you search. By extension, these sites provide overviews of everything they produce. Throughout my experience using the internet, it has become habitual for me to read/ research with a sense of urgency. Countless times I have caught myself spending more time rewording my search in order to find a more precise, straightforward answer than actually reading the information my search prompts me with. This realization has allowed me to consider how this change has impacted my “deep reading” skills. When I am searching for an overview, I am not engaging in any sense of deep cogitation that I would apply while searching for an answer through a lengthy article that explains why the answer is

Old admits that “the adult mind ‘is very plastic.’ Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones.” Additionally, Old declares the brain can reprogram itself on the fly. In processing this information, it has become evident to me that my brain very well could have taken on qualities of the technology that I use daily. With technology persistently expelling overviews and promoting urgency it becomes easy for my mind to refashion this quality and implement it into other aspects of my life such as reading. In fact, Carr offers that “the internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information.” Carr exemplifies this by mentioning how Google carries out thousands of experiments within a day and uses the results to refine the algorithms that control how individuals find information and interpret it. “The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction” (Carr). This is something that everyone can relate to when utilizing the internet. Every time I find myself using Google, I see a page brimming with pop-up advertisements and external links dragging me