Mind Over Mass Media By Steven Pinker

Throughout the article, Carr consults with credible sources that agree with him and believe that the internet is forcing our brains to evolve to face the growing nature of the web. A media specialist who Carr consulted with admits that, “[M]edia [is] not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought,”(Carr 92) and as media evolves it ,”[shapes] the process of thought.”(Carr 92) Carr argues that media is demising our intellectual ability, his argument is aided by his appeal to logos. Carr cities many credible sources that support his argument, that the internet is diminishing our cognitive ability. Car quotes multiple researchers and fellow “friends and acquaintances — literary

Media and technology are permeating and changing every part of our lives, but are there consequences to these changes? Nicholas Carr questions if the Internet is helping people as much as it is believed to in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” With an increased reliance on the Internet, Carr has found patterns of shortened attention in himself and among others. Carr points out frightening changes occurring in human behavior and the workings of the brain that have now become evident in our society’s younger generation and could have devastating consequences.

In, “The Influencing Machine,” author Brooke Gladstone explains that the changing media does not change our brains if we do not let it. This goes against all the fears of technology thus far, essentially making us humans the artificial intelligence.

Nicholas Carr, author of the novel “The Shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains” explains in his works that media and technology is affecting the way our brain works and is used in our daily lives. Carr states, “The price we pay to assume technology’s power is alienation. The toll can be particularly high with our intellectual technologies. The tools of the mind amplify and in turn numb the most intimate, the most human, of our natural capacities - those for reason, perception, memory, emotion.”(Carr, 211) Carr continues to explain an interesting phenomena that occurred in society within the

Living in a society that uses so much technology and Internet on a daily basis, is the only type of society I will ever know. When I ask my grandparents about their teenage years and early twenties, they say that times were so much simpler. When people wanted to read, they physically had to go to the library and get the book. They couldn’t just buy it on their kindle and have it at their fingertips in 30 seconds. Back then you couldn’t just Google something you didn’t understand while you were reading, you had to use your brain and figure it out. Mortimer Alder in How to Read a Book, makes an point that media is making it seem unnecessary to think. If one does not think or use their own abilities, how will they ever reach their full potential?

The effects media has on people are unknown but are becoming more evident as media is expanding. In a world of instant media, people do not realize how much non-truths they are being fed daily. Whether it be a popup article on Facebook or the current news story on the evening news, it is hard to discern fact from fiction. Media is also influencing day-to-day life whether it be on what we buy, which way to take to work, where the bad neighborhood is. Media’s goal is not to always tell the truth sometimes its goal to make the population think the way media wants them to think. The main concern In Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine and Jeff Warrick‘s Programming the Nation, is are people aware of the effects that media has on them.

Steven Pinker, author of “Mind over Mass Media”, claims that electronic technologies cause moral panics but that they are nothing to be worried about. Pinker explains in “Mind over Mass Media” that technology is nothing but an advancement to society. He makes points about having access to quick information sky rocketing scientific discoveries and electronic media improving how information reaches the brain. He supports these claims with some studies and examples but not many. Pinkers arguments are underdeveloped in some sports and not well supported.

In Steven Johnson’s novel, Everything Bad is Good for You, Johnson makes the bold statement that today’s popular culture has increased our brain functions, and made our society more intelligent as a whole. He concludes that everything that has negative connotations in our society is actually beneficial to the expansion of our minds; mainly television, videogames, movies and the internet. His two main claims are “all the standards we use to measure reading’s cognitive benefits – attention, memory, following threads, and so on – the nonliterary popular culture has been steadily growing more challenging over the past thirty years.” and “the nonliterary popular culture is honing different mental skills that are just as important as the ones exercised

The article "Mind Over Mass Media" by Steven Pinker uses logos, ethos, pathos, and other rhetorical elements to effectively communicate that mass media is a positive development and is not a reason for panic. The first noticeable rhetorical element in Pinker’s essay is the presence of a rhetorical triangle. A rhetorical triangle is made up of a rhetor, the audience, and the rhetor’s purpose. In this essay Steven Pinker is the rhetor because is the one trying to make a point to the audience. The audience is the reader of the article who is listening to the rhetor. Finally, the text or point the rhetor is trying to make is that e effects of mass media are not a cause for panic. In fact mass media is an effective way for humans to keep up with the modern age. The clearly defined rhetorical triangle in Steven Pinker’s essay is a surface level example of rhetorical elements in the text.

In the article Affects of Media on Society, it states “In the last 50 years the media influence has grown rapidly with the technology.” It started with all the ways information was relayed to us by mail, telegraph and new computer technology. We need to give it some credit because it has taken great steps in advancements in the medical field and other forms of technology. The internet has made many things in our life much simpler at work, at home and in education.

Anyone who watches the movie Idiocracy, may think that it is the stupidest movie that they have ever seen. In fact, they may think that it is so stupid, that just watching it made their IQ drop a few points. Although Idiocracy is a comedy, the director Mike Judge is warning us what our future would look like if we drive our focuses away from important things, such as education. The film Idiocracy reveals the ways in which mass media can negatively affect a culture’s intelligence. More specifically, the film shows how corporate consumerism hurts intelligence, how entertainment media hurts intelligence, but most importantly how intelligence is needed to face the challenges of the day.

In the article“Mind Over Mass Media” by Steven Pinker he covers the controversial topics of the effect that the new forms of media have on our mental capabilities and moral opinions. He refutes that media has not taken a toll on our intelligence, but, in fact, it has increased it, even to the extent of raising our IQs. Although there are likely negative impacts like addiction or distraction, he indicates that these impacts can be controlled, so hence the title “Mind Over Mass Media.” Pinker’s central claim is that new media technologies increase our intelligence and through their use, more discoveries are being made. Through the powers of his persuasion, Pinker draws us in, by appealing to his audience using historical and scientific evidence,

Is the internet making us smarter or dumber? People continuously argue whether this rise of electronic use and internet in our lives is a negative or positive aspect. In June 5, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Nicholas Carr raises and answer the intriguing question,“Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has bad effects on our brain. He says that the internet makes it harder to remember anything, and that is harder to move memories into long term memory. Those who are continually distracted by emails, alerts, and text messages understand less than a person who can concentrate. Nicholas Carr points that the internet can change the way our brain acts. He states that those who use the internet are shallow, and the internet is causing irreversible damage to our thought processes and making us stupid. A week later, Steven Pinker counters Nicholas Carr’s assertions in his own New York Time article,“Mind Over Mass Media.”He argues that electronic technologies are not as horrible as some may make it seem, and he starts his article by addressing how“New forms of media have always caused moral panics”(199). Throughout his article, Pinker explains why critics, who accuse electronic technology as harming to human intelligence, are wrong. He suggests that,“these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart”(200). Through media and social networking, the internet brings people closer together and provides convenience for people’s life.

The worth of media is a very controversial topic. Media has given us the ability to do things in new and creative ways such as how we learn and accomplish our everyday tasks. However, we do not always know how to interpurate this information. The technology available today is constantly impacting and influencing society in tremendous ways. Many of the impacts that are accocated with media are addressed in negative ways, but can be seen from a positive perspective as well. In the current generation, media and its influences can be found everywhere. These influences widely impact today’s adolescents and maturing teenagers because they are still developing into adults. Medias purpose is not only to inform us, but to allow us to mold ourselves in how we want to be perceived online. Also, it allows us easy access to unbelievable amounts of information. Living in an era known as the “information age” is riveting, but what are we suppose to do with all of this new technology and information?

Have you ever had an original thought? Why do we dress the way we do, watch what we watch or even live the way we do. Through our means of entertainment, it is almost a guide in how one should live their life. With the technology we have in our world we are persuaded to believe what is right and what is wrong. Although we create our own world, our thoughts were imposed upon us since the day we are born. “What if the world is some kind of show. What if we are only talents assembled by the Great Talent Scout Up Above! The Great Show of Life! Starring Everybody! Suppose entertainment is the Purpose of Life,” says Gabler. We wake up in the morning where most of us have a daily routine we go through. Why do we put on