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The whole world is connected by technology. Over time, technology has advanced from payphones and typewriters to cellphones and computers. The progression from a gray-screened cellular device to an advanced smartphone allows easier accessibility. So the question is whether or not the Internet or online technology is affecting the way we read long texts. In my opinion, I agree with Nicholas Carr, who states that "our hyperactive online habits are damaging the mental faculties we need to process and understand lengthy textual information.”
In Nicholas Carr’s, The Shallows, he writes, “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.”(Shallows). That is what technology has done to all of us over the years. It has shaped the way we look at articles and the way we choose to read.
In elementary and middle school we did all of our work on printed articles or books, but now in high school and college everything is online. I feel that I was a stronger reader and had better study habits when I read print and now that we read online it has affected me negatively. Although reading online or finding information online may be easier, I feel as if it has made me lazy and has shortened my attention span.
Carr also called the Internet is a “chronic distraction.” While researching for his book, he noticed changes in his behavior. For example Carr says “I'd sit down with a book, or a long article, and after a couple of pages my brain wanted to do what it does when I'm online: check e-mail, click on links, do some Goggling, hop from page to page." I can relate to this because I have a Twitter, Facebook, and Instagr...
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...he Internet has altered the way we see text and how we read it. The computer or smartphone provides us with so many distractions and alternatives. When we get caught up in hyperlinks and our minds become hungry to find out new information. Before we know it we could spend hours and hours on YouTube looking up funny videos and get none of our homework done. If we isolate ourselves in a room with just a book or a newspaper we are likely to just focus on the book and comprehend a lot more because that is all we can do. We are just too lazy to read a whole book when we can just find out about it on the Internet. The Internet allows us to have fast access to simplified information. Instead of pushing ourselves to read the whole book we go for the easy way out, like Nicholas Carr said. I have experienced this first hand and that is why I agree so strongly with him.
Author Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google making us Stupid,” discusses how the use of the computer affects our thought process. Carr starts out talking about his own experience as a writer and how he felt like “something had been tinkering with his brain, remapping his neural circuitry and reprogramming his memory”(313). Basically, he is acknowledging that since he started using the Internet his research techniques have changed. Carr believes that before he would immerse himself in books, lengthy articles and long stretches of prose allowing his mind to get caught up in the narrative or the
In response to Mitoko Rich, “Literacy Debate – Online, R U Really Reading?” in the 21st century, children are learning via different sources, whether through textbooks, internet, blogs, etc. Therefore, it was not surprising to read what is mentioned in this article. Reading in the digital age is causing a debate, especially in regards to students. After reading the article, questions came to mind such as; is it possible that digital text can cause more harm than
He states how he used to spend hours reading, but his concentration started to drift after two or three pages. He backed up his theory with stories from others who say they’re experiencing the same thing. But they still await the long-term neurological and psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how the internet affects cognition. After a brief history lesson, Carr starts to incorporate Google into the article. He tells us about Google’s history and their mission. Carr states how Google, and the internet itself, have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind. Apparently these companies do not want us reading slowly or for leisure. Carr then ends the article by stating that we are turning into robots ourselves, and that we are relying on computers to mediate our understanding of the
In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr concerns about spending too much time on web, making people lose the patient and ability to read and think and changing people’s thinking behaviors. He gives so many points: he can not read lengthy article used to be easy; many author begin to feel that too much reading online let them hard to read and absorb a longish article; we put efficiency and immediacy above understanding when we read; The circuits in brain has been altered by reading habit.
Like Gladwell, Nicholas Carr believes the internet has negative effects. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Carr attempts to show as the internet becomes our primary source of information, it diminishes the ability to read books and extensive research. Carr goes on to give a very well researched account of how text on the internet is designed make browsing fast and profitable. He describes how the design for skimming affects our thinking skills and attention spans. He wraps up his argument by describing what we are losing in the shift toward using the internet as our main information source. Carr suggests the learning process that occurs in extensive research and through reading is lost. While the learning process can be beneficial to scholars and intellectuals, not everyone has the capability to follow through with it. The internet offers an education that anyone can have access to and understand. Also if Carr believes the learning process is better, this option is always available for people who want to learn according to this scholarly principal. However, for the rest of the population the quick and easy access has allowed the average population to become more educated, and to expose themselves to aspects of academia that previously is reserved for
With the rise of technology and the staggering availability of information, the digital age has come about in full force, and will only grow from here. Any individual with an internet connection has a vast amount of knowledge at his fingertips. As long as one is online, he is mere clicks away from Wikipedia or Google, which allows him to find what he needs to know. Despite this, Nicholas Carr questions whether Google has a positive impact on the way people take in information. In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr explores the internet’s impact on the way people read. He argues that the availability of so much information has diminished the ability to concentrate on reading, referencing stories of literary types who no longer have the capacity to sit down and read a book, as well as his own personal experiences with this issue. The internet presents tons of data at once, and it is Carr’s assumption that our brains will slowly become wired to better receive this information.
In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr disputes that due to new digital tools, peoples’ ability to retain and acquire information has been negatively altered. Even though, we have information at our fingertips, we often don’t take the time to soak in all the information. Carr mentions Bruce Friedman, a blogger, who finds it extremely difficult to read a “longish article on the web” and to try to focus on the importance of the text holistically (Carr 316). This is an issue that many can relate even Carr knows that, “ the deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle (Carr 314). Additionally, media theorist Mcluhan describes the net as “chipping away [mental] capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 315). In essences, Carr states that we are having less of an attention span and consequently, less patience for longer articles (Carr 314). Therefore, this affects media outlets such as magazines, newspapers, and other articles, because they must conform and shorten their texts to fit the status quo that people safely enjoy (Carr 321). In addition, the net forces people to be efficient, and so, causes people to “weaken [their] capacity for deep reading” (Carr 317). People are becoming more driven on how quick he or she has to do something rather than think why this text is important. As a consequence, Carr believes that we are starting to lose our ability to be critical readers and
Carr explains how the internet can distract us making it harder to focus on tasks. He explains how processing information has become harder. Notifications, ads, popups can make it difficult if you are trying to read an article or book (Carr 57). The internet has become the center of our attention (Carr 57). Carr is explaining how this is the reason why we are struggling to comprehend a certain piece of information. He adds in his article that scientists, researchers and educators have also noticed the difference in concentration. And in further detail, he explains that we fail to see the important information, thus affecting cognition. He says that the information we gather is not valuable unless we know the meaning behind it. Carr concludes with explaining that the more the internet evolves the less valuable information is to
Interestingly enough, both journalists conclude their articles with the uncertainty that goes into their viewpoints. Where will the future take us? We have no idea. Will technology ultimately harm human cognition? We don’t know. We will never know for sure until the time arrives. In the meantime, we can continue to research and speculate, but that is all. Personally, I believe that technology has a significant effect on the human mind. It has come to dominate all aspects of our lives, even our biological processes. Technology is an incredibly powerful tool, and with great power, comes great responsibility.
This week I learned many literary information skills in online use of information. The question in the article "is Google making us stupid was a little too narrow in interpreting our cognition capabilities and reading skills. It mentions that people are becoming unfamiliar with reading in the traditional sense. Power browse is a way of skimming through many sources of information to avoid actually reading information correctly. The comparison of new technologies with older technologies was described to compare the process in which people develop new was of thinking and communicating. Speaking from the mind to the page is more difficult when you are introduced to new technologies. In the past it was a typewriter, today it is the internet and computers. Internet information contains advertising pop-ups that distract people 's reading ability. It is thought to be better than our own brain in its ability to artificially track information that we simply ask it to answer. The human brain is outdated and needs a faster processor and bigger hardrive. In the second article read "Meet the "bot...
These two articles are similar in the sense that they agree that the internet and computational objects are reshaping our brain’s structure by changing our neural circuit. By using examples from their personal experiences to identify a trend in technology use, the authors illustrate that the more we bury ourselves in technology the more we are unable to understand material which leads to loss of concentration and the ability to think for ourselves. As an author, Carr finds the internet a beneficial tool, but it’s having a bad effect on his concentration span. Carr points this out by stating “Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy, now I get fidgety, lose the thread and begin looking for something else to do” (39). He is no
He had a group of high degree web surfers and a group of beginners. Gary gave both groups a pair of goggles to wear and told them to search the web. If technology is interfering with your daily life, it is an addiction and taking a toll on you. A clinical psychologist, Ms. Dowling calls that “Internet Dependence.”
Long before we had access to the Internet, the means of obtaining knowledge were limited to a resources such as textbooks, encyclopedias, lectures and the willingness to inhabit the library all weekend. These were crucial ways for us to gather information and keep hold of what we absorbed. Fast forward to the 21st century and all of the world’s knowledge is just one click away. As amazing as it sounds to have information in an instant, it's starting to impact our brains. In the readings by John Bohannon and Nicholas Carr, they explain how the internet changed the way we read and how we conserve the information we read.
The internet as we all know is probably the most useful resource known to man in this day of age. Not only is the internet easy to access its easy to use. Nearly everyone owns a computer and nearly all of which have access to the internet. But isn't that a good thing? Millions of people having the ability to access and share all the information anybody could ever want.
The internet has influenced, and is still influencing the way society communicates in many different ways. The rise of the internet has caused people to communicate differently in areas never dreamed of before the internet came into existence. Education has been revolutionized through the world of the “Information Super Highway”. Medicine has also seen reform as the internet improves research and communication. Individuals are starting businesses from scratch, while others are selling household items for extra cash. This internet “typhoon” sweeping the globe has become a way of life for many individuals all across the globe.