My 2 cents on the Google article

In this rollercoaster of an article by Nicholas Carr, he talks about the main question at hand, "Is Google making us stupid?" He starts off by talking about his own experiences on how over the years he feels like he hasn't been the same; as if someone has been tinkering with his brain and reprogramming his memory. Carr feels it worst when he starts to read; he says that it is now difficult to read a book or a lengthy article and that his skill of deep reading has become a struggle. He then introduces the phenomenon that is Google; he goes on to say that when he uses Google, all he has to do is make a few searches, do some quick clicks on hyperlinks and boom, instant answer. Research that was once done by a sea of books and various library visits that would take hours was now replaced by the various internet sites that can be accessed by Google within minutes of use; the process was so easy it was remarkable!

Carr was not the only one that was concerned; the article changed gears to a new person, Marshall McLuhan, a media theorist. He goes on about how the net seems to be chipping away his capacity for concentration and contemplation. His mind expects to take in the information the way the net distributes it. He then says a well remembered statement from the article, "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words, now I zip along the surface like a guy on a ski jet." Throughout this article, it talks about other people and their experiences with the net and how instead of reading vast lengths of text, they now have to resort to skimming just to fight to stay focused. There is also a mention of 1882 when Friedrich Nietzche couldn't write anymore , so he had to adapt to the typewriter. This essentially changed the way he wrote but he could finally write again.

I agree with Carr's statements on this net business. The way that we absorb information has gotten lazier. It was once a trip to the library to look at various amounts of text books and encyclopedias, now it's a simple task on the internet and you get exactly what you need in a matter of minutes. As more information begins to shift to the net, our brains begin to adapt to this new shift in order for us to take information faster with less research. To support my thought, Carr mentions in his article that nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones; we break old connections with books and form new connections on the net. Some of my experiences with this topic started back before high school. I did all my research in libraries looking through books and whatnot, then high school came along and I was introduced to the internet and its vast information databases. From that point on, my brain adapted to these new researching techniques, and I believe it worked out best for me. As for Carr, he stated that he is concerned about this topic but later in the article he says that maybe he is just a worrywart. Maybe it's not as bad as he thinks, but he sure has a great say in all of this!