I Did Not Expect Too Much From Carr 's Essay

Nicholas Carr, the author of The Shallows, wrote his book to convince further society that the internet is having an adverse effect on their brains and how they are receiving information. His major thesis for the novel was expressed when he exclaimed, "...the Internet controls what we think and the process in which we think because with its efficiency and speed, we are formulating all of our thoughts through the speed of the internet rather than through the speed of our mind." Throughout the novel, Carr discusses multiple reasons on how we have changed to depend on the internet. As well as how we have let go of older versions of technology and methods of learning because they seem insufficient compared to the internet. Carr was very biased

A huge beneficial effect of the Internet is time-efficiency because it no longer takes days to find research. Fortunately, it only takes a couple of minutes to do a few Google searches. Another benefit to the Internet, in comparison to the last example, is that it is a channel for most of the world’s information. For Carr, as for others, the Internet is becoming a universal medium. Lastly, it is probable that we may be doing more reading today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was a choice of interest. It is assumed that we may do more reading today because not only do we have access to a variety of texts, but also a numerous amount of ways of communicating. For example, social media accounts and text-messaging. A negative effect of the Internet is that it is chipping away capacity for contemplation. The Internet is

Carr has a more negative opinion about new technology than Cascio. Carr believes the internet and previous technological advancements have caused many changes in society, including reducing people’s ability to focus. Carr says, “What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.” This is just one of the many times that he blames the internet for the changes that have occurred in the past decade.

Before entering the final crest of Carr’s gist, he reasons that many are bound to experience the negative effects of the Net because of its versatility and resilience. Carr state’s “Although mildly disorienting at first, I quickly adjusted to the Kindle’s screen and mastered the scroll and page-turn buttons. Nevertheless, my eyes were restless and jumped around as they do when I try to read for a sustained time on the computer.” The uniqueness of the Kindle brought on new changes in the way Carr was able to read, and describes the effects of reading on the device as distracting. He then explains about the internet, “When the Net absorbs a medium, it re-creates that medium in its own image. It not only dissolves the medium's physical

Carr mentions his personal experience with technology and how it has affected him. He points out his “concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages” (961). Carr isn’t the only one who has been affected by technology; he tells us that even his “acquaintances” have had similar experiences. His acquaintances say, “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (962). What once used to come natural to us has become difficult. People used to rely on books for multiple reasons when it came to research but now that technology has been used more frequently books are not that common. Carr says “Research that once required days . . . can be done in minutes” (962). Carr is mentioning the benefits of the Internet, for his argument he is using both sides so that the reader can relate to his article and understand where he is coming from. Carr quotes Marshall McLuhan when he points out that “the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (962). Although fast research is great and easy to access it has its flaws. Carr mentions that

In the excerpt “What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains”, Carr suggest the Internet is having an effect on

Nicholas Carr covers an unprecedented amount of material in his novel, “The Shallows.” He delves into subjects ranging from the history of the book to the business of Google to the psychological concept of neuroplasticity. All of these topics support his main argument: the idea that the internet is destroying our brains. He takes the deterministic approach that we are the tools we use, meaning they shape our brains. According to Carr, the internet negates our memories, deems print books useless, and distracts us from reality. His counterargument comes from the instrumentalist approach; this viewpoint maintains that people stay the same no matter the tools they use. His arguments are both sound and flimsy, current and outdated, and he rants

The author 's tone changes in paragraph 4 when Carr talks about how the Internet has altered his mind by crumbling away at how much he can concrete. When Carr states “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium” in paragraph four the author provides his counter argument which is to warn the incoming generations the dangers of the Internet before his main argument. Which is that the Internet is making us stupid and is altering how we think, by doing this it allows Carr to spend the rest of the article refuting his main argument.

In the Shallows Nicholas Carr shown his side of the argument that technology is overpowering our minds. How he proves this fact is that whenever we learn something new on the computer it takes less than 2 days for the brain to reshape itself to adapt to the new learning environment. The brian has a plasticity to being able to mold itself into a new challenge to adapt to a new circumstance. We become dependent of the internet addicted to see what is new with our friends. Finally it shows that we can’t be offline for a certain time period or we will get withdraws like a drug. This shows how the internet and technology has affected us in a terrible manner.

Large companies like Google and Bing have made finding things you are looking for several times easier. Despite all these wonderful improvements, there are always some downsides. At the right time and place, technology can be used effectively and proficiently. Sometimes, however, it is unnecessary and downright stupid to use in certain circumstances. For example, texting someone and notifying them of an important event can be useful, but not when you text your friend' "Hey," when you are sitting right next to them. People are going as far as making AI, or artificial intelligence in order to interact with someone, despite there being 7 billion other people on the planet. Professional or hardcore gamers have gone to extremes in order to keep their career and or reputation afloat. They are willing to stare at a screen for days at a time, barely eating or drinking, all while wearing an adult diaper, only doing it to reach 1st place on the leaderboards. Technology has not only affected how we act, but how we think as well. In the novel, Carr talks about the idea of neuroplasticity, which is the concept of the brain being able to

In Nicholas Carr's "It's Google Making Us Stupid," he argues what many people probably never thought of and if thought they might have thought the opposite. He begins by saying how the internet really affected the way humans process information. He begins to support his idea by using a scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: The Space Odyssey, where the supercomputer is being dismantled by the man the machine almost killed. Carr further emphasized the fact that the computer could "feel" its "brain" being taken away as the man took it out of its memory circuits. This is the idea that Carr defines by then that the readers understand his theory

Carr is brutally honest with the phrase, “I’m not thinking the way I used to think,” and this truthfulness helps to build Carr ’s ethos and directly address the fact that the internet has changed his actions and his thoughts. He frames his essay with these anecdotes to leave the audience with the image of a personal struggle with technology. At the end of his essay Carr writes, “You should be skeptical of my skepticism. Perhaps those who dismiss critics of the Internet as Luddites or nostalgists will be proved correct...

In the article, Carr expresses his concerns about the Internet, but he is not completely negative about it or against it; he writes ahead that the Internet has been a godsend to him as a writer (Carr, 589). What he tries to do is to remind us that there are another possible perspective and guideline when we judge and criticize the Internet. After describing all his concerns about the Internet and human intelligence, Carr writes that maybe he is just a worrywart and there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine and refers to the example of Socrates and Squarciafico (Carr, 595). He shows his acknowledgment of the opportunities the Net brings us and his understanding of the reasonability of possible disagreement with him. “You should be skeptical of my skepticism,” he writes (Carr, 596). He expects us to be skeptical of his argument, because he wants us to think more about both pros and cons of the Net. He does not try to deny the Internet or convince us not to use it. Instead, he puts forward the other side of the case to let us have forethought from a different perspective and to be more critical when judging the Internet. When we agree on the bright side of the Internet, how it enables to

As Carr starts off his book he gives us an over view of how technology has impacted his life both positively and negatively. He states his pros as being a good research source, a way for quick and easy shopping, making schedule reminders, etcetera. Although he has many pros he does give a few cons such as, technology has limited his concentration as well as his memory capacity. Carr repetitively states his medium of the book, that our brains are changing and not for the better. Neuroplasticity which is defined as the malleability or plasticity of the brain, is used to explain how our brains are shaped and can adapt to the evolving technology around us supporting his claim. Carr uses examples and information from psychologists such as, Sigmund

Carr specifically is writing about the internet that has evolved over time. He claims that people are starting not to understand the readings. People use to read books and “go to libraries to look for research and now with a click of a button its at our finger tips.” He thinks people are just skimming through articles and books. He even goes on to say that his co-workers and fellow writers are started to skim.