The Article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, has a persuasive and emphasized narrative, into depicting how the Internet has taken prominence of the human mind, explaining that people in todays modern age have lost the aptitude to engage deep reading, because the internet has revolutionized into a manipulating tool, that lets us easily access information with a simple click of a button from a computer and the result is that we are becoming insipid readers. Furthermore, he continues to criticize the Internet as a power system that extracts data from search engines to control the way that humans thinks and to distracts us so they can attain ultimate power over us. Carr, has a strong argument but fails to acknowledge the fact, that our …show more content…
In paragraph three, he expresses himself stating: “ And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it.” (2) While his statement correlates with multiple examples from his close friends and from research programs that he provided throughout his article, can we really hold the internet accountable for our lack of concentration and our reading deficiency? Carr, does not accept the simple fact, that people that can’t concentrate and cannot critically analyze what they are reading from the Net, are those that have lost their self discipline to differentiate what’s important and what is not. People definitively, should hold themselves accountable for their own defectiveness of reading, and most importantly discontinue bashing of the internet. In addition Carr, also disregards that the internet has giving us all the opportunity to expand our minds and to elevate our creativity which will lead us to continue to embrace innovation and endless opportunities for everyone in our
In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008), Nicholas Carr maintains that the advent of the Internet has produced a shallow generation of information customers who lack the ability to deeply engage with and critically think about a text. To support the argument, Carr draws on personal and historical anecdotes and one scientific study. The purpose of Carr’s article is to open a dialogue about the potentially adverse effects the Internet could have on humans’ cognitive processes. Carr establishes an informal relationship with the audience, who are generally well-educated, upper-middle class individuals. Because the audience is educated, they are very capable of critically thinking. However, Carr’s use of other rhetorical strategies disarms them and detracts from the dearth of logos. His essay is rife with numerous unfounded premises, poor evidence, and logical fallacies. Because of this lack of logos is in a way compensated by including numerous appeals to ethos and pathos, the audience is likely to find the article persuasive unless they re-read the article deeply with a critical lens.
The debate over the internet's influence on human minds has been long running. Nicholas Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" article successfully defends both opinions on this issue. He has plenty of history on the topic and has seen much success in previous works. Carr uses his past to impact the present issue society is challenged with every day. With his background on the subject, Carr is able to establish credibility as a speaker before he reasons for both sides of the debate successfully.
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
In his essay, “Is Google Making us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr discusses societies dependence to easily accessible information. Since the inception of the internet and search engines, information has been accessible to us instantly. Although instant access to information is a desirable advancement in technology, it comes with questionable consequences. From his own personal experience, Carr explains that since this invention, his brain feels as if it has been tinkered with. Carr explains that his brain does not work the way it used to, that it’s very hard for him to become engrossed in books, articles, or essays. As he continued to try to become engrossed in these readings, he found that his thoughts would wander and he would become restless after just a few
With the rise of technology, society is beginning to wonder if it is helping or hurting us. Many people privileged enough to have technology, argue that though technology is helping the world advance, it is altering our thoughts and perceptions. In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” he blatantly calls out the current generation and expresses his concerns about how the internet is changing the way people interpret information. Carr’s main claim is that the internet is causing people to lose their ability to concentrate and think on their own. Google can affect our cognition but depending on its uses it can make people smarter.
In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr explains how the Internet is somewhat removing the way humans tend to concentrate on certain things. He also explains how people think differently then they usually would because of how the Internet may cause them to view things. Even though the Internet may help in a variety of ways, it does influence the way humans may think and learn as a process together. Carr’s argument is effective because he shows the affect the Internet has on humans in ways such as, not being able to read lengthy articles and books, the use of a type writer, and the lack of his own creditability within the article.
It’s hard to believe that Google began as a small online search engine created by two college students in a dusty garage, which eventually developed into one of the most prominent companies in the world. It started in California in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, two individuals who aspired to collect the world 's resources in an organized manner, making it universal and accessible for all. Programs like Google expose users to an infinite amount of material, allowing individuals to process information at an unprecedented rate. With just a click of a button the World Wide Web makes this possible, but are we truly aware of the side effects it may have on our brains? The New York Times best seller, Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What The Internet is Doing to our Brains explores how the Net shapes the way our minds think. He argues that the medium to which information is presented can be more influential than the content itself, thus corrupting the minds of individuals in ways that society may or may not be aware of. Carr also implies that the Internet is making individuals incapable of reading deeply, specifically with long pieces of writing, which essentially affects a person’s capacity to concentrate and analyze information. Through Carr’s personal experience with technology, we also get an understanding of the roots of his ideologies.
He first starts out his article by calling Carr’s article out about all of the statements that he believes are wrong. The first point he makes is that the internet is one of the best uses of technology. Prior to the use of the internet, anyone who wanted to learn something new would have to sit in a library for many hours, but now you can learn the same thing on a smartphone in a fraction of the time. The uses of all different types of technology is also helping humans become better multitaskers. Both Greg and Carr believe that humans are not good at multitasking, but Greg thinks people are still not that bad at it. He thinks that using many forms of technology is helping younger kids learn and become better at multitasking than older people. Lastly he talks about how people are scared to start to embracing technology because it will take people away from having a face to face conversation with someone else, but the printing press got the same comments about it when it first came out too. So he thinks that technology is changing and people need to be onboard with it and they cannot stop
Although it is not as much present in the article, the slightest bit is seen when he depicts his own experience to the readers. He mentions that the net seems to be chipping away his capacity for concentration and contemplation. Then Carr uses reliable sources to support his claims such as Friedman, a pathologist at the University of Michigan, Marynne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University, James Olds, a professor of neuroscience, and even the founders of Google. This makes the reader realize that Carr has read widely and thought deeply about this topic. Which also reflects to the dedication he has put in this
Nicholas Carr’s 2008 article in The Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, argues that the Internet and access to vast amounts of information is corroding the attention spans and thought complexity of the billions of Internet users around the world. As Carr himself puts it, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” (Carr) He proposes that having many different sources at once will cause readers to skip around sporadically rather than thoughtfully consume information, and that Google has an agenda to cause this behavior due to their economic interests. Overall, Carr paints a cynical outlook on the prevalence in Google and any societal changes stemming from its use. David Weir’s 2010
In today’s society search engines have become the most go-to place to acquire information, especially Google. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr, his point he is trying to state is that the internet is becoming the primary source of information. Because of this, it is taking away the ability to read books and longer pieces of work because it’s easier to browse through smaller articles. The three appeals that Carr used to effectively describe how strongly the internet is taking over is logical, emotional, and ethical.
The internet has made an immense impact on every generation since its existence as it continues to grow throughout time. Its effectiveness is prodigious; the internet allows people to gain information that once took days to retrieve it in a few minutes (Carr 1). Writer Nicholas Carr, in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, explains that the use of internet and technology causes harm to people and their brains. Carr’s purpose is to address to internet users that Google (or any electronic helpers) is making them “stupid” and lazy because it minimizes their concentration and willingness to think. He attempts to adapt to his audience, dedicated internet users, as he uses the rhetorical appeals to try to convince them of his purpose. However, this was not enough. Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” is ineffective because of his poor use of ethos and logos despite his good use of pathos.
The author 's tone changes in paragraph 4 when Carr talks about how the Internet has altered his mind by crumbling away at how much he can concrete. When Carr states “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium” in paragraph four the author provides his counter argument which is to warn the incoming generations the dangers of the Internet before his main argument. Which is that the Internet is making us stupid and is altering how we think, by doing this it allows Carr to spend the rest of the article refuting his main argument.
In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr expresses his beliefs and personal experiences on how the internet has altered our brains and how we think. He addresses the fact that, although our brains’ abilities to deep read and concentrate are suffering, the internet is extremely beneficial and convenient. Because of the easy accessibility, it takes little to no effort to find information, and therefore, a minimal amount of thinking is required. Carr highlights that people are more impatient because of the internet and that our minds are becoming more erratic. The author used research, conducted by a U.K. educational consortium, to show that a new form of reading is developing over time; rather than reading every word on a page, it has turned to more of a skimming method. Nicholas Carr realizes that we may be doing more reading than ever due to the internet, but it is different in the way that people have to interpret the text. Reading, unlike talking, is not a natural ability. One must learn to deep read, make connections, and translate the underlying meaning. Overall, Carr believes it is a mistake to rely fully on computers because in the end, it will just be our own intelligence that morphs into artificial intelligence.
In the article, Carr expresses his concerns about the Internet, but he is not completely negative about it or against it; he writes ahead that the Internet has been a godsend to him as a writer (Carr, 589). What he tries to do is to remind us that there are another possible perspective and guideline when we judge and criticize the Internet. After describing all his concerns about the Internet and human intelligence, Carr writes that maybe he is just a worrywart and there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine and refers to the example of Socrates and Squarciafico (Carr, 595). He shows his acknowledgment of the opportunities the Net brings us and his understanding of the reasonability of possible disagreement with him. “You should be skeptical of my skepticism,” he writes (Carr, 596). He expects us to be skeptical of his argument, because he wants us to think more about both pros and cons of the Net. He does not try to deny the Internet or convince us not to use it. Instead, he puts forward the other side of the case to let us have forethought from a different perspective and to be more critical when judging the Internet. When we agree on the bright side of the Internet, how it enables to