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How Smartphones Are Hijacking Our Minds Summary

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In “How Smartphones are Hijacking our Minds”, Nicholas Carr argues that smartphones are hijacking our minds. To strengthen his claim, Nicholas Carr uses strong diction, statistics, and irony, to emphasize phones hijacking minds. In the article, Carr refers to tests done be professors on college students. In one experiment, students had to take a test and some were told to either have their phone on the desk, others in their bag or pocket, and the rest in another room. The outcome showed higher scores for those whose phone was in a different room, then those whose phone was in their bag or pocket, then those whose phone was on the desk. Carr found the results “striking” and even went as far to say that as the proximity of the phone increased, the brain power decreased. Another test he refers to is one done in the University of Essex, in England. which was held to study social skills with the presence of a phone. The test revealed that “the mere presence of mobile phones” reduced trust and empathy. A third test he explains in his article is one with a group of strangers. They were told to type statements into a computer. Half were told that what they typed would be deleted, and the other half were told that what they typed would …show more content…

Dr. Ward, claims the phone “acts as a 'supernormal stimulus’, one that can ‘hijack’ attention.” “Supernormal” describes the phone to be a stimulus that is extremely above the average stimuli. “Hijack” strongly describes how the phone is “controlling us.” For one of the tests done on college students, he finds the results “striking.” By using “striking”, he expresses his shocked reaction. He comments to another test with: “the evidence that out phone can get inside our head so forcefully is unsettling.” He uses “forcefully” to show a strong action for phones having access to our minds. By using strong diction, Nicholas Carr is able to solidify his claim of phones hijacking our

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