A Rhetorical Analysis Of It's Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

The internet, in short, is our everyday savior when in distress. Technology is our main source of communication in the 21st century. However, according to Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, published in the July/August 2008 issue of the Atlantic, the internet is reprogramming his memory, and remapping his neural circuitry. Carr accuses the internet of taking away his focus and concentration.Even though Carr uses logos intensely and multiple rhetorical approaches in convincing the reader of his point of view, he fails to make a logical, persuading argument for multiple reasons.

of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in 2008 in the Atlantic, believes that the internet is “tinkering with our brains” and has even admitted to seeing changes within himself. Carr created this article to inform people about how societies ability to read and comprehend information is being changed or harmed by the use of the internet. Carr did have some errors such as structural problems with his thesis and also struggled with an informal writing style. Despite some of these errors, Carr’s use of rhetorical techniques such as ethos, pathos, logos, and ample amount of personal and factual information along with the emotional touches, allows him to develop a strong persuasive argument.

Carr describes how he thinks that the internet is making him lose his focus, he can't read for longer times, makes him uneasy and starting to look for a distraction while reading. Carr explains in depth in the article that how the internet is taking over our lives, we found

In Nicholas Carr’s, “Is google making us stupid,” Carr indicates a problem that affects a majority of the internet users; that being as time we spend on the internet increases, the more we are diminishing our intellectual ability, and loosing the ability to become intertwined in a lengthy article or an extended book. He is suggesting that the technology we are in contact with on a daily basis, has a negative effect on our cognitive ability, and is forcing our brain’s to evolve. Throughout the article, Carr argues the negative effect media, mainly the internet, is having on his capacity and concentration: he effectively argues his point through the uses of many rhetoric appeals, that draw in the reader. His use of logos, compares the past and

Large companies like Google and Bing have made finding things you are looking for several times easier. Despite all these wonderful improvements, there are always some downsides. At the right time and place, technology can be used effectively and proficiently. Sometimes, however, it is unnecessary and downright stupid to use in certain circumstances. For example, texting someone and notifying them of an important event can be useful, but not when you text your friend' "Hey," when you are sitting right next to them. People are going as far as making AI, or artificial intelligence in order to interact with someone, despite there being 7 billion other people on the planet. Professional or hardcore gamers have gone to extremes in order to keep their career and or reputation afloat. They are willing to stare at a screen for days at a time, barely eating or drinking, all while wearing an adult diaper, only doing it to reach 1st place on the leaderboards. Technology has not only affected how we act, but how we think as well. In the novel, Carr talks about the idea of neuroplasticity, which is the concept of the brain being able to

Carr had experiences of his own working with the web. He researched other writers with similar views on the subject to support his own thesis. Using evidence from different reputable sources helps draw in the reader and shows them the widespread effects of the web. Carr states that one of the articles he gained information from said, “It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense”(94). The way we read now is considered as "skimming through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins”. Usually when people read on the Internet, they do not spend the time to read the entire article, and it is seen that people skip from text to text, focus getting lost quickly.

Consistently there is some new innovative progression advancing into the world trying to make life simpler for individuals. In the article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", writer Nicholas Carr clarifies his contemplations on how he trusts the web is risking making individuals loaded with simulated information. Carr starts by clarifying how he feels that the web is bringing on his center issues, how he can never again be totally submerged in a book, and the motivation behind why he gets restless while perusing. He then goes ahead to discuss how his life is encompassed by the web and how that is the fault for the issues he has towards not having the capacity to stay associated with a content; however, in the meantime says how and why the web has been a

Carr starts at his paper in a first point of view. He expresses his feelings that the internet is changing his own personal thinking. This man is an author, he's born to read and even he says that he's having problems because he can no longer read anymore. Carr says that “the web has been a godsend” (Carr), but he also explained it's not only a

At the beginning of his essay, Carr describes his interactions between reading and the internet: “I’m not thinking the way I used to think... Now my concentration starts to drift after two or three pages... For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online” (150). In this passage, Carr depicts how the internet has changed him; he used to be able to concentrate for a long time, but with distractions from the internet he is unable to hold his focus while reading and can only concentrate for “two or three pages.” By including himself in the group of people who are afflicted by the pitfalls of the internet, Carr appears more honest and credible, which makes his argument believable.

The author feels that someone has been tinkering with his brain, making it change. In his essay he says, “the net is chipping away my capacity for completion and concentration” (Carr 333). Carr goes on to mention how the Internet has been a godsend tool to help him as a writer (332). He then says how it also has become the “universal medium to access information”. To support this, he cites Marshall McLuhan. He noted that in the 1960’s the “media are not passive channels of information”. It feeds us information to think about and also “tells” us how to process it. Because of this Carr explains how the Internet forces him to skim through articles instead of really concentrating and taking the time to read like he once did. Carr uses an online blogger as an example of this because he stopped reading books even though his major was literature in college. The online blogger, Scott Karp, thinks it was the way he thinks has changed not the way he reads. Another blogger, Bruce Friedman, agrees his ability to read long articles has been affected by the Web, describing his thinking as having a “staccato” quality because of scanning short passages of text on the

Carr not only uses his personal experience with technology, but he also uses vivid imagery and analysis from other authors that also support his main argument to persuade the reader. In the article, he states “ Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do” (Carr 314). Technology has changed the way of peoples thinking and reading. Nowadays, people can't finish reading a good book without yawning on the first page. It has become harder for people to think for

In, “Is Google Really Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr (2008), he validates how people are heavily relying on the internet pushing for Artificial Intelligence. Carr also talks about how it is changing the way our minds work with negative side effects. He demonstrates how the internet may be shaping our thought process by giving observational examples as well as personal experiences. Beginning with his personal experiences he says how he finds it difficult to keep focused on a book, as a writer, this is rare to him. He tries to find a reason to his inability to stay focused and comes to a conclusion it is due to the internet. Carr is very persuasive in his article, although his point of view maybe seen as an opinion, he does show and support

I feel as though Nicholar Carr succeeded in demonstrating the importance of how the Internet changes our brain’s ability to absorb information. The opposing views of his claim would be that there is not a change in our thinking or that the Internet is not what is responsible for that change. My position is most closely aligned with Carr’s. I believe that the Internet’s convenience has altered the expectations we have for how easily information should be presented. We prefer information to be short, to-the-point, tidbits that are easy to

The essay Is Google Making Us Stupid by the author Nicholas Carr, was originally a cover article of The Atlantic in 2008. The purpose of his work is to warn the technology users of the negative effects that these devices have in humans. Carr starts the essay with a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in which one of the characters describes how his mind and the way he reads is changing by the time since he has been using a computer. He is no longer able to spend hours reading, describes how to get concentrate in a long paragraphs is difficult to him. The fact of how fast the internet works, forces his brain to process information the way Net does.

As the internet offers us the benefits of quick and easy knowledge, it is affecting the brain’s capacity to read longer articles and books. Carr starts Is Google Making Us Stupid with the closing scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey when Dave taking apart the memory circuits that control HAL, the artificial brain of the ship. Carr feels the time he spends online is rewiring his brain. He is no longer able to concentrate long enough to read more than a few paragraphs. Even though the internet is useful, it seems to be changing the way our brain takes in information. He feels as though this brain wants to take information in the same way the internet disperses it: in