Nicholas G. Carr's 'Is Google Making us Stupid?': Summary and Response

While reading a famous article by Nicholas Carr titled “Is Google Making us Stupid?,” I have concluded that it is not. I disagree with Carr’s argument because his view point corresponds with how technology is advancing. The way that the internet has shaped our lives has taken a great toll on the way we view the world now. There are a couple of ways that technology is improving. One would include books that are paperback turning into nooks and kindles along with blogging and texting. Another study shows that our brains are also changing and growing along with the internet. This shows that technology had advanced from the 70’s and 80’s when there wasn’t widespread access to the internet.

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he shows us how and why technology is changing people’s brain and the way they think. Carr establishes credibility by giving examples from professors knowledge. He uses different maxims such as quantity and relevance to show is points. With each of these maxims he paints a good picture about the struggles of how technology is making people become less capable of retaining information. He even goes on to describe how the neurons can rewire themselves to have a different function. Each of his examples go on to further prove that google is in fact making us stupid.

In “Is Google Make Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr explains the worrisome signals that the Net is creating between the humanity. This article was published in July/August 2008 issue of the Atlantic, contains 16 pages that covering different points of view from bloggers or historical famous. The purpose of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” is to persuade educators as well as the public about how the Net is affecting the personal intellect.

An article published in The Atlantic entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” criticizes to what effect the internet has on our cognition. Despite the title of the article, technology writer Nicholas Carr does not target Google specifically, but rather the World Wide Web as a whole; moreover, he attributes his recent troubles concentrating while reading books and more-lengthy articles to the long hours he has been spending on the internet.

With the rapid development of technology, more and more people get used to reading through computers rather than printed books. While acknowledging the convenience provided by the Internet, Nicholas Carr concerns that “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence” (328) in his article Is Google Making Us Stupid? Published in the 2008 issue of the Atlantic. However, there exist some weaknesses in the argument due to his overstated pathos, inappropriate examples, and faulty logics, which to some extent hurt his persuasiveness.

Although technology is denying us the privilege of upper cognitive analysis, our minds still know the acceptable times to use and not use formal writing. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr examines the human dependency to the Internet while in “Does Texting Affect Writing,” Michaela Cullington studies the possible effects of “textspeak” and its connection to current writing skills. “Textspeak” is the language of texting that has considerable amounts of grammatical error. The individual organic computer in the human skull known as a brain has been slowly changing its organic makeup. The brain has begun to change its primal neural pathways (thoughts), which has had a negative impact on memorization, concentration, and addiction; the only scientific correlation between this alteration and time is the human population and its advancements in technology.

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr argues that the constant use of the internet has negatively affected the way we think. He elucidates the negative

Technology is swallowing the old ways of learning. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr and “How Computers Change the Way We Think” by Sherry Turkle both bring light to the idea that technology, computers and the internet, is changing the human thought process. Carr believes that technology is “tinkering with the brain, remapping the neural circuitry, and reprogramming the memory” (53). He writes that humans are becoming the machines, obsessed with “efficiency and immediacy” (55). Turkle bases her essay on the theory that we are becoming a computer culture. She states that “we live in a culture of simulation […] in programmed worlds in reassuring environments where the rules are clear.” (303). Technology is creating

In Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he talks negatively about how technology is eating away at our cognitive abilities whereas I think a transition into a digital world can be very beneficial to our modern lifestyles. He comes from a firm standpoint that technology is leading to a negative effect on our intellect whereas through my remediation I demonstrate how digital text can intrigue the reader and actually encourage deep reading. Deep reading is the ability to go beyond the surface of what the text is saying. It’s building connections and forming ideas. In the words of Maryanne Wolf and Mirit Barzillai, it is “sophisticated processes that propel comprehension and that include inferential and deductive reasoning, analogical skills, critical analysis, reflection, and insight.” (Wolf and Barzilai, 1)

The following essay will discuss how the ideas in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, is expressed in the futuristic novel Feed, by M.T Anderson.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" By Nicholas Carr informs us on specific techniques, technology continues to negatively affect our brains. This article starts out by talking about how the Internet in general is a resource we could use for practically everything. In result, all people alike are becoming more and more dependant upon it in increasing work productivity, reading, and writing. This article also claims about how technology plays a huge distraction in our lives. Traditional media has to live up to the expectation their audiences have of everything being a "shortcut". People in general, are becoming too use being in control to access information faster and more efficiently. According to this article, technology has started a mental massacre to think that more important than people. Google in general is trying to invent an artificial brain to replace our "slow" brains we already love and thrive from. In the world where technology is put first, what will happen to loved ones and

In summary, the article is split into two pieces. The first is Nicholas Carr’s longing for his brain to be one with the internet, a man made machine. The second part of the article is Google’s standpoint on how our brains should be replaced by artificial intelligence. Carr points out that he is not alone with this concept because ‘Bruce Friedman, blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits […] But in a recently published study of online research habits, we may well be in the midst of a sea of change in the way we read and think’ (228). So the internet is shaping the way we take in information by altering the way we read. Our brains don’t want to even try to

The article, “Is Google making us stupid?”, by Nicholas Carr states that technology has changed our living styles over years. He talks from the use of clocks to computers in each and every situation. This article introduces how the internet or technology has affected our brains. “The deep reading that used to comes naturally has become a struggle” (Carr 2) proves the idea behind writing this article. From past experience Carr explains that we used to read long articles and book without getting distracted, but now we feel the most difficult job to do. That’s because of internet that is taking over humans. Carr states that human brain is malleable, and it can also change the impression that is created by internet. Carr believes our brains are not like hard drives, or refrigerators that can get overstuffed so there's no more room. In contrast, he says they expand: "It's not as if remembering and thinking are separate processes. The more things you remember, the more material you have to work on, the more interesting your thoughts are likely to be," he says

Many years ago, people used to spend so much time trying to look up information through libraries, newspaper and books. However, since the evolution of the Internet started, everything has changed. Nowadays people rely on the internet or Google for almost everything, but is this considered a good thing or a bad thing? Well, that’s where the controversy erupts. Some people believe that Google is making us stupid, while others believe the opposite. In Nicholas Carr's article ‘’Is Google making us stupid?’’, Carr is one of a small group of people who believes that Google is making us stupid (adj cl) Carr's main argument is that the Internet might have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation(voc). However, the main point of the article is not only about Google specifically but also the impact of the Internet in general. Carr’s wants to inform the whole world that the internet has many disadvantages that contribute in changing the way our brain functions (adj cl). However, I think his research needs more significant evidence to support his suggestions, beyond his research on a small portion of people. For all of that, I don’t agree with Carr’s opinion that Google is affecting us intellectually. Moreover, I believe that Google is the best thing that humans ever created because it provided us with a lot of benefits that people should take advantage

Search engines allow people to find information instantly and efficently on a topic. Is Google actually making us stupid? Nicholas Carr attempts to persuade the reader by stating, how the way information is presented on the internet has changed the way people think. He uses different methods to do this, such as examples, statistics, and research. Carr also states that the internet has become the primary source of information, and has begun to affect our ability to read long books and other lengthy texts. Carr compares the past and the present of the internet. The growth of the internet has changed the way he thinks, and other writers. Nicholas Carr is successful at convincing the audience that internet has changed the way people think and the ability to read long texts through his use of logos and pathos.