"Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr

Questions that author answers:
1. What are some affects of modern technology?
2. Has the Internet advanced learning?
3. What are some unintended consequences of progress?

Response

I choose to respond to question three because the unintended consequences of progress are stressed in the article written by Nicholas Carr. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Carr highlights the unforeseen effects due to the growth and use of the Internet. The progress that is due to the Internet, Carr argues, is a false perception in that it has caused digression in human thought and how we read information. Given this context, I take some issue with his position.

            I define progress as anything that improves the human experience in terms of growth in intelligence and exposure to information. It also includes making things easier for the human condition. According to these conditions, the Internet fulfills all of them. Never before in human history have we been able to have access to enormous amounts of information in such a short amount of time. We can look up historical events with ease, we can do research very efficiently, we can be exposed to opinions who may differ than ourselves. All of this exposure to information has benefited individuals because we can expand our reservoir of knowledge inside our brains. All of these indicate that the Internet has been a benefit for society.

            I also take issue the reason that Carr outlines as the true reason for our digression. It is not the Internet, it is us. Throughout the article, Carr uses anecdotes of individuals who have trouble focusing and paying attention to what they read online (2). That is not the Internet’s fault; it is the fault of these individuals who get distracted, thus inhibiting them from the close reading of any text online. Google and the Internet are not getting us distracted, the environment we surround ourselves in causes the distraction. A distraction-free environment while reading a book can also be achieved as we intake information from the Web. We can tune-out the videos, stop reading emails, and ignore the advertisements. The deep reading that we experience when we focus on a book can still be experienced when we read anything online. Instead of just skimming the headlines, we should make an effort to read the article. Laziness and complacency has started to keep into society in how we ingest information.