“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Summery and Response

Summery: The article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, is about how Nicholas Carr himself and others are losing their ability to focus. This article explains how the Internet effects are ability to think and focus. Carr states in his article; “Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy.” Carr goes on to explain how much fun he used to have reading and how he got caught up in the stories, but then he goes on to say; “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.” Carr has spent so much time skimming through reading materials that he has trouble actually reading the whole thing. He blames the Internet for this. Carr talks about how information is found in seconds with the Internet. The Internet is used by almost everyone and has lots of advantages but is duly applauded. Carr seems to think the Internet has changed our way of thinking and has made us a little lazy. For example most kids use spark notes found on the Internet so they don’t have to read an entire book, only a couple paragraphs. Carr goes into depth about how we have lost our senses (when to sleep, wake up, and eat) because of technology does it for us. We work more like “computers” then “clockwork” now. Are computers reprogramming us? Or are we still in control? Carr implies that computers were built to organize information but they are not just used to hold information people use them to play games, chat with friends and so on.

Response: I think most people spend way too much time on the computer and that is why they can’t focus anymore. If more people had self-control, they wouldent find it so hard to concentrate. People tend to think they NEED the Internet, when in fact we were fine before Internet was made. We survived how long without it? I believe the Internet can only reprogram or change your way of thinking if you let it. I admit like most kids I use spark notes, but unlike most kids I also read the book. I use spark notes to help me understand what I read and I believe that’s what they were really meant for. I don’t think they were meant for kids not to have to read books. I don’t think reading everything is important but reading the whole things of some things will be beneficial. For example English teachers make you read classis books because you can get more out of them then just the stories. Sometimes you can get lessons of values from them or some times you can learn different styles of writing. Shakespeare for example you would most likely learn different styles of writing. Beauty and the Beast you would learn a lesson that its what’s inside that counts not what someone looks like. These are examples of things you can’t get from skimming through something or reading spark notes.