As technology begins to advance every day it starts to have a large impact on us humans, not only on just our lifestyle but also the way we prefer to receive information. In the novel The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr, he proclaims a biased argument about the internet consequently how it is changing our ability to think logically because we are choosing the easier route to gain knowledge. Additionally, argues that due to Google we lack our critical thinking skills causing less knowledge to be created. The Internet is designed to connect people on a personal and commercial level, on the other hand, Carr rejects that idea, moreover views it as making us individuals more shallow by using the Internet. Despite the benefits the internet has, it is degrading us and we don’t even know it. The internet is constantly changing the way our brain works. Additional use of the internet causes our brains to decrease the attention span we have. We were all born with a blank slate of minds with a basic brain structure, though our synaptic (nerve cells) connect accordingly by experience. “Cells that fire together wire together.” (Carr 27). If animals learn through repetition, us humans might as well. The consistent usage of the internet to receive information quickly makes the human brain have a shorter attention span. Due to neuroplasticity, we are utilized to receiving information so quickly, when we are given something like a book, it makes it harder for us to understand the text since we
Reading long books and articles use to be easy; however, it changed due to the way our brain processes information from the Internet. Once the Internet came along, it became hard for us humans to read long lengthy articles and books because of information being found in shorter versions on the Internet. Bruce Friedman wrote earlier this year, “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print”. (Nicholas Carr) Although Carr gives the example of how reading lengthy articles and books have become hard, he also gives the example of how the lack of true intelligence can get the best of humans.
Nicholas Carr, the author of The Shallows, wrote his book to convince further society that the internet is having an adverse effect on their brains and how they are receiving information. His major thesis for the novel was expressed when he exclaimed, "...the Internet controls what we think and the process in which we think because with its efficiency and speed, we are formulating all of our thoughts through the speed of the internet rather than through the speed of our mind." Throughout the novel, Carr discusses multiple reasons on how we have changed to depend on the internet. As well as how we have let go of older versions of technology and methods of learning because they seem insufficient compared to the internet. Carr was very biased
In The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, he asserts that the evolution of information and communication technology (ICTs) is having a detrimental impact on our brains despite the many benefits and advances we have made with it. His main focus is on the internet which he commonly refers to as the “universal medium” (92). Carr presents a very detailed but biased argument in which he views the internet and other technologies as the adversary of critical thinking and progress. To Carr, we are sacrificing our ability to think logically because we are choosing a simpler way to gain knowledge.
Communication with our society and the aptitude for reading has been transformed by the Internet as we, no matter who we are or what we use, adapt to the mechanism of technology and become a less intelligent, shallow community. Due to the many hours we spend on our electronic devices and the fast-paced reading we’ve adjusted to, our brains have become psychologically less perceptive of how the Internet is affecting our everyday lives. We need to make note of our daily habits and how much time we spend online, for the Internet will continue to affect generation after
Nicholas Carr covers an unprecedented amount of material in his novel, “The Shallows.” He delves into subjects ranging from the history of the book to the business of Google to the psychological concept of neuroplasticity. All of these topics support his main argument: the idea that the internet is destroying our brains. He takes the deterministic approach that we are the tools we use, meaning they shape our brains. According to Carr, the internet negates our memories, deems print books useless, and distracts us from reality. His counterargument comes from the instrumentalist approach; this viewpoint maintains that people stay the same no matter the tools they use. His arguments are both sound and flimsy, current and outdated, and he rants
The Internet is something that some consider their lifesavers, while others believe that it takes their life away. The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr is a novel that explores the different areas of how new technologies affect humans in different ways, regarding multi-tasking and distractions, to how new technologies make us lose a little part of ourselves. Throughout the book Carr puts forward very strong arguments, but then loses creditability with his use of fallacies in argument.
Nicholas Carr published The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains in 2011 as a result of his own personal experiences and observations of his own behavior. The book was published by W.W. Norton & Company with ISBN 978-0-393-33975-8. Carr began working on the book after he noticed that since the birth of the internet, he did not think in the same ways that he used to think; he was easily distracted and had trouble concentrating on tasks requiring a lot of thought (2011). This effect, he noticed, was not unique to him. Many of his colleagues reported that they too had lost a lot of interest in reading books, had trouble concentrating and were easily distracted (Carr, 2011). What if, Carr wondered, everyone doesn’t just prefer to do their reading on the internet for its inherent convenience and speed but rather, what if the internet was actually changing the way we all think?
There is a transformation happening today that is completely changing the way that we do things. The ways that we are communicating are shifting from face to face interactions to short, interactive messages. Technology seems to be making it easier to stay connected, but it is restricting our interactions with others and leading to isolation.
Nowadays, a lot of people are using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and so on. Since the Internet has propagated rapidly, social media have progressed a lot. The generalization of the internet makes us to live conveniently and fast. People are almost using smart phones, i-phones or comfortable devices which can access to internet. These equipments make us to do social network easily. It helps contact friends, family, and other people even though they live far away. It could be, however, abused, if you don’t use properly. Especially, it is important that we understand and regulate the use of social media by young children.
Our society has become heavily reliant on social media, and today’s younger generation cannot avoid using it in their everyday lives. As time has progressed, social media has advanced significantly, becoming easier to access with a touch of a button. These advancements provide both positive and negative consequences to youths’ relationships. Due to the rapid advancement of social media, youths’ real-life relationships with their peers have been affected both positively and negatively.
The internet was invented roughly about 30 years ago by the World Wide Web. However, the first social media came out circa 20 years ago. The name of it was Six Degrees and it was created by Andrew Weinreich in the 1900’s. Six degrees users had the capabilities of uploading a profile, making friends, and sending messages with family and friends. Nevertheless on 2004, Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg, a 19-year-old who created the biggest social media that changed the world. Till this day, Facebook probably has up to 2 billion users and still counting. Nonetheless, most people seen on Facebook ranges from their teens to mid-40s, that have the capability of spreading information across the globe setting a chain reaction that created and spread fake news. Social medias’ fake news is spread by a heap of people that are easily convinced by false statements. According to Gretel, “In the midst of a nationwide debate over the proliferation of fake news on social media sites – and, as one 2015 study by the Media Insight Project shows, at a time when nearly 9 in 10 Millennials regularly get news from Facebook – the numbers, at first glance, may point to a bleak, uninformed future.” (n. pag.) Therefore, teens need to use social media to disintegrate some of the repercussions of real news.
Out of the variety of news sources such as TV, radio, or newspapers, one of the popular sources in today’s world is social media. People are getting addicted to and can’t live without social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. They use social media as of where they can post their status but also where they can receive a lot of different news. While social media are spreading any kinds of news such as trend, celebrity or even politics, people easily get the information that is not true called “fake news.” The fake news raises the major problem in social media as the news source. Once people see the news, they tend to believe and share it. Liking can spread out fake news in a second. When people like the news, the activity
In this age of social media, we are constantly worried about being popular. We are driven by “likes,” “comments,” and “followers.” Not caring what our peers thought, our middle school selves posted anything and everything. Now, as seniors and having had access to social media for an abundance of years, we are far more cautious about what we post but not in the way you might imagine. Instagram is a resourceful tool but, if used incorrectly, could impair your social status.
I would like to summarize the “Is google making us stupid” article and extract its intended purpose. Nicholas Carr started realizing how his reading skills was changed by using internet and the reality of shallow mindedness as a result of it as well. He mentions “Net is chipping away my capacity to
Over the decade our generation has become more and more into Social Media. We can post any picture, tweet about our daily lives and comment on everything. However, as you pose for a picture, or tweet about something that happened to you, do you ever think if it interferes with the First Amendment? Most people do not consider that, and sometimes what they posted can lead them into a lot of trouble because it could violate the first amendment. Many argue that first amendment grants us the freedom of speech; however, to what extent should our activity on social media be protected as free speech under the first amendment? The people’s activity on social media should be protected as free speech unless the activity is determined to be an actual threat towards someone because there are different interpretations, our comments reflect our opinions, and the right of free speech is the foundation of our country and forms what this country is about.