`` Is Google Making Us Stupid - 1505 Words

With new technological advancements occurring more rapidly each year, it is no surprise that there is an extensive conversation about how these new progressions impact the brain’s development and cognition. One trend is evident: there is a universal acknowledgment that technology is indeed changing the way we think. Among the members contributing to this conversation, two strikingly different outlooks on how these changes will affect the future exist. Either we should be terrified, or worrying is premature. Articles written by experts specializing in psychology and the brain, such as Pinker’s â€Å"Mind Over Mass Media,† as well as How Has the Internet Reshaped Human Cognition? by Kee and Loh, as well as and finally â€Å"Children, Wired- for†¦show more content†¦I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle† (Carr 314). Nicholas Carr, someone who is n ot an expert in psychology, deliberately uses phrases such as â€Å"dragging my wayward brain† to incite a panic in his readers, and make them uneasy about the future. On the other hand, Harvard experimental cognitive psychologist Dr. Pinker in his essay â€Å"Mind Over Mass Media† addresses the same issue, technology as a deterrent to concentration, but has a very different outlook. Although Dr. Pinker acknowledges that technology can be a distraction, he chooses to provide logical (albeit condescending) strategies to overcome the distractions rather than going into theatrics. Dr. Pinker states, â€Å"The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life. Turn off email or twitter when you work, put away your Blackberry at dinner time, ask your spouse to call you to bed at a designated hour† (Pinker par. 9). Essentially, Pinker asserts that if one takes simple preventative measures, there is no reason to believe technological distractions will hinder the mind. Another striking difference between Carr’s thesis and that of psychological experts is how they regard the â€Å"hypertext environment.† A hypertext is a text that has a link that will take the reader directly to another text. In â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† CarrShow MoreRelatedIs Google Making Us Stupid?1240 Words   |  5 Pagesone idea to be represented in many different ways. Both Nicholas Carr’s article â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† and M.T Anderson’s novel Feed, the broad idea of the relationship between humans and technology is portrayed. Carr’s article complains of how technology changes the way we think. Carr instigates the idea that we are losing our passion for learning as a result of the internet and search engines such as Google. These advancements, Carr proposes, lead to a world where our intelligence â€Å"flattensRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid1140 Words   |  5 PagesIs Google Making Us Stupid In the Atlantic Magazine, Nicholas Carr wrote an article, â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† Carr poses a good question about how the internet has affected our brain, by remapping the neural circuitry and reprogramming our memory. Carr states, â€Å"My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell-but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the say way I used to think.† Carr went on farther, saying that he cannot read as long as he used to, his concentration starts to wonder after two or threeRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid?920 Words   |  4 Pagesa different perspective than that of Manuel Castells. In â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† Carr believes the Internet has taken the foundation out of learning, socializing and reading. Coupled with Manuel Castells, Nicholas Carr agrees that the Internet has been of good use in some cases (Wikipedia for the many hours of research conducted for its database that we access) but he also believes the Internet is slowly making him and us stupid. Carr says â€Å"My mind now expects to take in information the wayRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid?1548 Words   |  7 Pagesindependent will and creative imagination. These gives us the ultimate human freedom†¦. The power to choose, to respond, to change (Independence Quotes. Brainy Quote. Xplore. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.).† The Declaration of In dependence allows people to do whatever they please as long as it’s within the law, but Google is restraining what people can really do. It may not seem that a search engine can limit people, but one needs to think about the many things Google consists of that doesn’t allow people to chooseRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid?1048 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Is Google making us stupid? Three authors weigh in One of the most common clichÃÆ' ©s is that the Internet has robbed us of our attention spans and impeded our ability to communicate effectively. Once we could write properly, now we only text. Google has made us lazy in terms of how we research and access data. However, is this true? In three major news publications, three major essayists have grappled with this question and come to completely different conclusions. Although the neurological evidenceRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid?879 Words   |  4 PagesAmerican writer, Nicholas G. Carr, in The Atlantic July/ August 2008 Issue titled â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† argues that the amount of time we spend online, especially google, has caused us to lose our minds by â€Å"tinkering† with our brains, â€Å"reprograming our memory,† and changing the way in which we process information. Carr’s purpose is to contribute to the idea that â€Å"Google† along with other online tools, is programi ng us to be less attentive and to the inhibition of our critical thinking skills. GuidedRead More`` Is Google Making Us Stupid?1384 Words   |  6 Pagestechnology is changing the way we access information; anything is accessible in mere seconds. This implementation has resulted in the most aware society of all time. Most information is just a quick and simple Google search away. An article, written by Nicholas Carr â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid? â€Å" in a 2008 issue for The Atlantic magazine, questioned the negative cognitive effects of the world wide web. Carr recognizes how much we rely on the internet and believes that humanity needs reform. AccordingRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid?1040 Words   |  5 Pagesquestion â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† This has set off a debate on the effects the internet is having on our brains. Obviously the internet is here to stay, but is it making us scatterbrained? Are we losing the ability to think deeply? Criticism of t he Web most often questions whether we are becoming more superficial and scattered in our thinking. In the July-August 2008 Atlantic magazine, Nicholas Carr published Is Google Making Us Stupid? (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google). Like otherRead MoreIs Google Making Us Stupid?733 Words   |  3 Pages Nicholas Carrs article, â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† makes points that I agree with, although I find his sources to be questionable. The article discusses the effects that the Internet may be having on our ability to focus, the difference in knowledge that we now have, and our reliance on the Internet. The points that are made throughout Carrs article are very thought provoking but his sources make them seem invaluable. Carr discusses the effects that the Internet has on our minds and the wayRead MoreIS Google Making us Stupid1091 Words   |  5 PagesFebruary 2014 The Truth Behind Google Have you every truly thought about the way you use Google? Some people basically use it as a replacement of an education, while others use it to find information quick and easy. The first article named â€Å"Yes†, written by Nicholas Carr, describes how Google is making people stupid. The second article titled â€Å"No†, written by Peter Norvig explains that Google is not making people dumb. Carr wants to display that most people use Google to find answers, and in that