English 102
Nicholas Carr wrote the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” this article focuses on Carr’s opinion about the internet affecting thinking. Although Carr made many arguments, this paper will only focus on three. Starting with the internet limits human thinking, second, using the internet for searching and reading is altering the way people read and process information, last, new age technology is altering people's ability to focus and think for themselves. Google is not making us stupid, it does, however, make people lazy. The purpose of this paper is to refute Carr’s arguments and prove Google is not making us stupid.
To begin, Carr claims that the internet affects human thinking. I claim that the internet does not affect our thinking, it affects our decision to use our thinking. We as human beings make the choice to use the internet and Google for everything. With technological advances, it is easy for us to become complacent and take advantage of these tools to the extent that it is making us not want to think on our own, blaming the internet seems absurd when we make the choice to use it instead of our minds.
Also, Carr claims that using the internet for searching and reading is altering the way we, as human beings, read and process information. (Carr, pp 313) He compares 2001: a space odyssey HAL getting his brain disconnected to how Carr feels like his mind is changing. The change is that he can no longer read long texts of information without becoming distracted and is no longer deeply connected to what he is reading, stating that “Deep reading has become a struggle”. Humans process the information the same we always have, the difference is how we choose to get the information. Choosing to spend all the time on the internet instead of critically thinking or other alternative is a personal choice to be lazy.
Finally, Carr claims that new age technology is altering people's ability to focus and think for themselves. Carr states that with the “convenience of the internet that we have today, we are able to quickly look up an answer to a question with just a couple of quick clicks.” (316) The claim itself is wrong because if you are having trouble focusing, the internet would be of no use to you in the first place. There could be underlying reasons while Carr can not focus we would not know because he did not go see a doctor, he asked friends and colleagues their opinions. If you are unable to think for yourself it's because you choose not to, which again is not the internet's fault, it is your own.
So, in this paper, I have talked about Nicholas Carr’s claims with reasons why I refute them. Starting with the internet limits human thinking, second, using the internet for searching and reading is altering the way people read and process information, last, new age technology is altering people's ability to focus and think for themselves. It is our human nature to simplify things where we can, and with the internet, we have found a way to receive and process information instantaneously and without any effort from our end. The issue is not Google and the internet making us stupid, it is individuals making the decision to use Google and other technology instead of thinking on our own, it is us being lazy and placing blame on the internet.
