Taylor Cole
AP-English
08-24-09
Is Google making us stupid?
I personally agree with the point that the writer is trying to get across in this article. The internet has crippled society’s brains. Now that we have resources such as Google and Ask.com we don’t mentally do as much work. With the fast pace of society today we want quick answer quick response. Since this has been taking place for so long, we have barely noticed what is slowly but surely happening right before our eyes.
In the article the author, Nicholas Carr, mentions that our minds are starting to naturally skim thru reading instead of deeply reading passages. I have personally had experiences when I can’t deeply get into the reading that I’m doing so I quickly scan it just to get a vague understanding. Just like Nicholas Carr I too used to be a happily hearted reader, but now I can barely sit thru three paragraphs of deep reading before it loses my undivided attention. In this article there is a media theorist, Marshall McLuhan, who contemplates that our brains are starting to become trained as the net gives information, which in this case he means quick and to the point. Although I agree with this statement I do realize that some articles today like to lead you thru all the details before getting to the point like for instance news reports, magazines, and newspaper reports also.
This new method of easy question easy answer tends to satisfy the needs of the typical American today, especially the typical teen. Us teens in America today do love to use our number one source of communication today which is of course texting! After reading this article I realize that this could be the beginning of the end for our generation. But it’s not just us with this lazy problem, it’s also the adults.
Our minds are “very plastic”, that’s what James Olds, the professional neurologist concludes. What he is trying to say is that our nerve cells can quickly break old routines and build new ones. What seems to be happening is today’s fast pace society has forced our brain cells to form new routines. Our minds have sets routines of having the answer on spot, or quickly scanning until finding answers. We don’t “scuba dive” read as the author put it we just “jet ski”.
Although I do agree with what is going on, as I was reading I had to ask myself could this all be in our minds? Could we all just be set like this because that’s what most main stream society is saying about us. Maybe if we all took the time to read a little more and more each day instead of always taking the easy road out, we can better our circumstances.
People as a whole can’t let computers continue to take over the world. We need to stop always depending on machine to always to our dirty work. Our brains are becoming lazy the more we do this. Focusing on the bigger picture will show us that if we continue down this road it will get us no where far. After all it was the brain of a person that created machine.
In conclusion, websites such as Google are crippling to the human brain, but we can do something to stop that. For example maybe try checking out a library book to help find answers to questions we need answered. I’m not necessarily saying read the whole book because that’s what a glossary is for! We can also slow down the fast brained life by actually having phone conversations instead of texting all the time. American’s spend most of their day communicating anyway so why always do it the lazy way?
AP-English
08-24-09
Is Google making us stupid?
I personally agree with the point that the writer is trying to get across in this article. The internet has crippled society’s brains. Now that we have resources such as Google and Ask.com we don’t mentally do as much work. With the fast pace of society today we want quick answer quick response. Since this has been taking place for so long, we have barely noticed what is slowly but surely happening right before our eyes.
In the article the author, Nicholas Carr, mentions that our minds are starting to naturally skim thru reading instead of deeply reading passages. I have personally had experiences when I can’t deeply get into the reading that I’m doing so I quickly scan it just to get a vague understanding. Just like Nicholas Carr I too used to be a happily hearted reader, but now I can barely sit thru three paragraphs of deep reading before it loses my undivided attention. In this article there is a media theorist, Marshall McLuhan, who contemplates that our brains are starting to become trained as the net gives information, which in this case he means quick and to the point. Although I agree with this statement I do realize that some articles today like to lead you thru all the details before getting to the point like for instance news reports, magazines, and newspaper reports also.
This new method of easy question easy answer tends to satisfy the needs of the typical American today, especially the typical teen. Us teens in America today do love to use our number one source of communication today which is of course texting! After reading this article I realize that this could be the beginning of the end for our generation. But it’s not just us with this lazy problem, it’s also the adults.
Our minds are “very plastic”, that’s what James Olds, the professional neurologist concludes. What he is trying to say is that our nerve cells can quickly break old routines and build new ones. What seems to be happening is today’s fast pace society has forced our brain cells to form new routines. Our minds have sets routines of having the answer on spot, or quickly scanning until finding answers. We don’t “scuba dive” read as the author put it we just “jet ski”.
Although I do agree with what is going on, as I was reading I had to ask myself could this all be in our minds? Could we all just be set like this because that’s what most main stream society is saying about us. Maybe if we all took the time to read a little more and more each day instead of always taking the easy road out, we can better our circumstances.
People as a whole can’t let computers continue to take over the world. We need to stop always depending on machine to always to our dirty work. Our brains are becoming lazy the more we do this. Focusing on the bigger picture will show us that if we continue down this road it will get us no where far. After all it was the brain of a person that created machine.
In conclusion, websites such as Google are crippling to the human brain, but we can do something to stop that. For example maybe try checking out a library book to help find answers to questions we need answered. I’m not necessarily saying read the whole book because that’s what a glossary is for! We can also slow down the fast brained life by actually having phone conversations instead of texting all the time. American’s spend most of their day communicating anyway so why always do it the lazy way?
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