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Summary Of Mind Over Mass Media By Nicholas Carr

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Twitter, Facebook, Google, all things that we see as everyday “necessities.” Most of us believe that the internet is a great asset, however, it could be making us dumber by the minute. Steven Pinker believes that this is just a joke, that the internet helps us gain knowledge, not become less intelligent as he illustrates in, “Mind over Mass Media.” Where, as Nicholas Carr believes that the internet drops our intellectual capacity. Both Pinker and Carr go in depth on their outlook of the internet, touching on how it affects our IQ’s, how it alters our attention span and distracts us, while having a completely different tone throughout the their essays. Over the years the human race has panicked with the introduction of certain technology, thinking it will disrupt balance but does the internet really bring own our IQ? People need reality checks according to Steven Pinker as he goes on to state that when people were concerned about comic books, juvenile crime rates dropped, then in the 90s when video games took off, it coincided with the crime decline in America. Look deeper into reality, every decade that televisions, transistor radios, and …show more content…

He does not hesitate to get his points across to the reader. When Carr is talking about the reasons the internet is affecting us in negative ways, he uses much more examples and talks more about experiments that back up his case. However, Steven Pinker is much more lax towards the subject. In “Mind Over Mass Media”, he does not use as many resources as Carr but he still has many valid points. When Pinker is explaining how the internet is not changing our attention spans he starts to have a serious tone. Pinker is all for the internet and believes it is helping us day by day. He does not think it is affecting us negatively and thinks that it is a joke that people believe it is making us

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He uses this idea because the reader can relate to it, like himself. Carr also explains about because of the easiness of the internet, it makes people full of artificial knowledge when he writes about the impact of the internet on the way how we think. He elaborates on how the growing technology affects the human life and their culture. He mentions Foreman’s life experience with related to how his life is surrounded by the internet. Carr’s essay is free from bias because he

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(Carr 2). According to Carr technology is slowly becoming the most important thing in our life. To the point where he says we are focusing more on becoming artificial than adapting the organic to live within the 1’s and 0’s. “We still await the long-term neurological and 7 psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how Internet use affects cognition.” (Carr 2).

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The concept that the internet creates a culture of rapid satisfaction and constant distraction is another point Carr makes in his essay. He speaks about how the layout of content on the internet, with its links, ads, and limited reading time, encourages people to scroll rather than read carefully. Carr suggests that this culture of distraction may be the reason behind our inability to focus and concentrate for a longer amount of time. Many of Carr's observations about how reading and thinking have changed in the digital age are in his essay "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" are views that I agree with. My own experience confirms it-

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The future of Internet appears clear, as it has already begun to consume many of our lives. I believe that as the Internet continues to be improved, it will continue to consume the lives of people everywhere, taking jobs, and continuing to drain our attention span. As Carr states “My brain isn’t going-so far

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the use of technology is extending radically. " Is Google Making Us Stupid?" By Nicholas Carr talks about how technology is negatively effecting our brains. This article begins by discussing how the Internet is an tool we can use for just about anything. In result, we are getting to be indigent upon it in things like to expand work profitability, writing, and reading.

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He uses a published study of online research habits, conducted by scholars from University College London. The study suggests that people “typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would ‘bounce’ out to another site.” This use of resource not only strengthen his strategies of logos, but it also proves his point that we’re not reading in a ‘traditional sense,’ and that the way we read now is what we would call ‘skimming’ or reading “horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins.” Carr also uses the strategy of pathos to show the manipulation of Internet on the human brain. In another part of the article, he says that he “once was a scuba diver in the sea of words.

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Carr concluded that with each advancement, our brains changed. Carr also points to studies on neuroplasticity, which show that our brains are malleable and can change in response to new experiences and habits. This furthers his theory suggesting that our interactions with the internet could rewire our brains to favor quick browsing over deep, focused thinking. I’m inclined to agree that the internet is having some negative impacts as stated by. Pros and Cons: Is the Internet Making Us Stupid?

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I'm considered to be a millennial and I can honestly say that I've grew up with the privilege of having technology. The internet makes it very easy for us to interact with friends or family and doing research you can even read your favorite books on the web. When watching the video "Is the Internet Making Us Stupid", it pointed out a lot of things I've never thought of before. Nicholas Carr's view on the issue is that the internet is simply a distraction. "When we have new technology that gathers information or communicate for us it changes the way we think", he's implying that our devices we use on a day to day basis, does everything for us we rely more on that then actually relying on our brain to do the work.

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Carr cites Socrates’ opinion as important and it develops credibility for Carr, because it shows the concerns respected figures had about its effect on the public as each revolutionary technology became popular. Additionally, Carr mentions his personal experiences with the internet and technology to further his credibility as a knowledgeable writer. Carr writes about how he easily used to read long stretches of prose for hours without getting tired, but now he cannot concentrate after reading a couple of pages at a time (314). Carr ponders on why his attention span is getting shorter and links it to his increased use of the internet. As being a credible writer about the issues of technology and the internet, Carr feels confident that he and other people worldwide cannot concentrate on long readings due to the ease of reading on the

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As he introduces the argument, Carr falls into the logical fallacy of false cause, when he emphasizes that there is a cause-and-effect relationship when looking at a human's ability to stay focused as a result of the internet. Readers can see this through the quote, “We’re constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be online” (Carr 2). Here, Carr is implying that phone usage is causing humans to be distracted and therefore making the claim that the internet should be used far less. However, Carr does not keep in mind the millions of new technological software being built to reduce the amount of interruptions when working with the internet. For example, over the past decades, tools have been designed to help users be more productive.

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Nicholas Carr, What the Internet is doing to Our Brains The Shallows (2010) asserts that, “The price we pay to assume technology’s power is alienation.” He supports this assertion by saying, “They both ultimately achieve their mental and behavioral effects by shaping the synaptic organization of the brain.” Also by, “ We long to keep it activated.” The writer concludes in order for people to improve their thoughts, they will have to cope with the new technology and how they think. Carr believes that technology is taking over how people interact with each other.

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Consequently, one can come to believe that the internet today really does help people to increase their intelligence easily and efficiently, which makes them want to oppose participation in “Shut Down Your Screen Week”

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Rhetorical Analysis of “Mind Over Mass Media” Many people believe that new forms of electronic media such as search engines, which offer easy access to incredible amounts of information are harmful to people’s intelligence because they allow us to understand only the main idea of the information provided instead of allowing us to gain an in depth understanding of the topic. Steven Pinker, a professor at Harvard University argues in his essay “Mind Over Mass Media” that these new forms of electronic media are actually beneficial to people's intelligence and the accusations made against it are unwarranted. He is successful in doing this because he brings up counterarguments and disproves them, he offers advice in practicing self control when

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The article “Mind Over Mass Media”, written by Professor Steven Pinker, describes the impact of media on human lives and brains. Pinker illustrates the benefits people gain from using the worlds quickly increasing technology and media. Pinker suggests that today’s technology such as, PowerPoint, Google, and other forms of social media can actually enhance and bring more intelligence to the mind, instead of being detrimental. Critics believe that the many different forms of media can lower intelligence. However, Pinker declares that scientists are using all of this technology everyone else is using, and are still discovering new things.

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Nicholas Carr's argument against the internet was very strong, and it persuaded me. It is very difficult for me to go against his opinion. I agree that the internet is changing us, but not in ways we think. There are long-term effects of using the internet as often as we do. He states that the internet is changing the way our brains function such as having a shorter attention span, negatively changing the way we critically think, and negatively changing our reading skills.

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