Nicholas Carr

The main idea of my section at the end is to leave the reader with the realization and confirmation that Internet is the culprit of our new lack of brain power. We are not becoming smarter, we are manipulating technology to be smart for us. One of his most convincing claims he makes is that "people have become so machine like that the most human character turns out to be a machine." By this Carr is saying that we are over using this tool so much that we are becoming increasingly a part of it. He uses the example of a movie in which a robot being dismantled cries out that he can feel his brain being shut down. We have taken Internet and technology to such an extreme that we are to the point of considering it a living thing. And it basically is. The Internet is alive and dominant as ever, influencing young minds and giving out ample amounts of easy information and brain junk.

I thought Carr's most interesting claim was the fact that "In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas." I thought this was interesting. Although Carr doesn't say it out loud, he suggests that taking time to be alone and read a book is a good way for people to get some individual downtime. When on the Internet there is too much information and influences. People need a little time everyday to withdraw from societies busy lifestyle and take some time to self-reflect and think without any distractions. Reading a book is a perfect way to do this. Now reading ink and paper is being replaced by technology and people, especially teens, are constantly being pulled in one direction or the other, sitting on the computer all day and losing their sense of self. I know that i personally have to have a little time to relax and let my mind go free without any distractions, even if just for a few minutes.