Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Kylie Garrison

In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr provides evidence that he believes is proving that the Internet is frying our brains, becoming an addiction, and causing a severe lack of focus including the ability to comprehend reading. Nicholas Carr goes into a personal state of confirmation to help persuade this idea. Carr states that he has realized he also has had a problem with not being on the computer constantly. Many people access a computer various times per day. They check their emails, Facebook, Myspace, online homework, etc. He goes into detail by giving case in point example such as, “the internet seems to be chipping away my capacity to concentrate and contemplation.” Carr provides another example saying that “When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating like clockwork. Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating like computers. Carr presents several reasons supporting why he believes computers are altering our brains.

As I was reading I was paying attention to how many distractions I had during the course of reading this, it took me an hour and a half to two hours to read this seven page article. While I was writing this response I had a tab for Facebook and Yahoo up, and my cell phone right next to me. That is when I started to recognize what Carr is trying to teach about such short attention spans is shockingly true. We have taught ourselves since we were put in first grade how to read. It is a natural feature we have stored in our brains. The internet does have a large weight that is affecting this. In this article Carr grants us with numerous details why he thinks this is true. He also includes information from several trusting sources, such as sociologists and psychologists.

My opinion on this article is that I strongly support this. The internet has started to transform our brains to read shorthand passages, rather than novels and creative writing. Also, the net has decreased our concentration capability drastically. We have so many distractions when on a computer; I myself find it very hard to focus when reading even a Facebook message. Little pop ups, text messages, or you got a message on IM all adds to the fact that you have to re-read a paragraph you have read several times already. It is very obvious that there is an issue with how much our attention span had fallen since 20 years ago. Yet, I also insist there is a very positive side to this increase in computer use. The computer is not something we are forced to go on or even own. It is a self decision how many times a day you allow yourself to go on, there are many other sources to get information from. The internet can be used to an advantage or a disadvantage depending on what you use it for. There is quite a bit of very useful information that even professors find valuable and do not teach. I think the internet usage is generally an admirable trait to society as we learn many things from there. The only downfall is the fact that people take it for granted.