Technology plays a huge role in today’s society.
Everywhere you look people are always texting, gaming, listening to music and
browsing. On the flip side, technology has also helped improve ways of living through
research, curing diseases and even communicate with others across the world.
Nicholas Carr believes Google does in fact make us stupid, he does have a
slight point on the matter, but not to what we all may expect to hear.
It seemed a bit ironic that Carr was going on and on
about how his “concentration started to drift after two or three pages” when
this article is seven pages long. I found myself also to be “fidgety, begin
looking for something else to do” also starting to scan. This is a point I want
to bring up. I believe that most people blame technology for what we are
becoming. Carr mentioned that “deep
reading used to come natural has become a struggle,” meaning technology in a
way has been “making us stupid.” Maybe not in the sense as many might think.
The internet has many useful websites, recipes,
information that you can find in one place: Google. The “advantages,” as Carr
said, of having “immediate access to such an incredible rich store of information
had been fully applauded.” I personally love having fast access to the internet
to find what I need, like most of you as well. However, we choose to use these
resources. We elect to have Google help us, therefore making us rely
on it. Those are the key words here. As Theorist Marshall McLuhan put
it, “media are not just passive channels of information.” “They supply
the stuff of thought, but they also shape
the process of thought.” Meaning, they supply the material, but since we rely on all this
information given to us, it shapes us to need it and not think on our own.
The world as we know it is changing so fast we can’t
comprehend it. Carr believes. "You should be
skeptical of my skepticism,” that we should be careful in what we do. We all do
need to think on our own and use the internet as a resource, not fully depend
on it. I feel as though this argument Carr is making can be about a lot of
things, not just technology. It’s just the era we are living in.
Hey Ashley! I loved reading your second paragraph specifically because I found myself agreeing with you 100%. You're so right that it was very ironic how the author writes about the difficult of reading continuously for 2-3 pages, considering how long he made his article. I, too, have difficulty reading lengthy amounts in one sitting, but am not sure that technology is completely to blame for this. Like you said, it may just be the society we live in today, not necessarily the fault of technology.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Internet should be used as a resource and not something to fully depend on. It is always good to think on our own and try to understand things without the help of the Internet. I like your point about how the world is changing and becoming more complex for us. Here, the Internet can provide help in understanding the world around us and the changes that are occurring.
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ReplyDeleteI think your third paragraph is a perfect summary of everything the article tries to say. You both recognize the fact that the internet is simultaneously an invaluable resource that can access almost all of the information that we could ever need and a form of media that could potentially be changing the human thought process in negative ways. I agree that, instead of immediately panicking, we should just keep in mind that everything should be in moderation. I think it is a sound assessment that skepticism and skepticism are both important in keeping the internet’s role in our lives in a safe balance.
First off, a very interesting take away from this article. I also noticed that despite the fact that he claimed the internet to be robbing us of our concentration, he wrote a seven page article on it. A bit of a contradiction. Though you are right when you say that we are starting to rely on Google a little too much to get us the information that we need. And what the most interesting part of it is, we have chosen to let this happen, either consciously or subconsciously. You also mentioned that they are shaping the information to fit our process of thought, which I hadn't really caught before, well done to you. Overall, it is worrying and we will have to keep a careful eye out for this in the near future.
ReplyDeleteAwesome response! I know the above comments have brought this up several times but the author states "I find trouble sitting and reading for 2 or 3 pages at a time" YET HE WRITES A SEVEN PAGE ARTICLE. As for technology in general and a search engine such as google, I wouldn't blame the generation we have grown up in as accepting it for what it is. Technology hasn't made us dumber, its actually enhanced many forms of living from medical research, education, and some form of social interaction. I also really like the point you brought up when you said "We rely on technology." I completely agree but also can't find a solution where we can't use technology at some point during our day to find random information that may come up while talking to your friends or just pure enjoyment. Overall a great response.
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