writing response 5

Claire Janigo

Anna Wolf

ENG 100a

10 February 2010

Reading Response 5: Is Google Making Us Stupid

In response to the recently read article, written by Nick Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” I feel that the most vital claim he tries to make is that society is experiencing a mental shift in how people process information. Carr claims that this change is in response to the dramatic increase of online use for information and literature. The Internet has become an increasingly prevalent tool in most peoples’ lives; they relish the vast collection of information waiting for them exerting much physical or mental effort. With this lack of mental excursion the brain is losing its ability to process information with the same depth that reading a lengthy text or analysis takes. Carr believes this is a fundamental skill that people should take the necessary time in order to maintain.

In support of this Carr describes the way that,” the Net is becoming a universal medium, the cunduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind.” This claim is a strong support for Carr’s goal of the essay because while reading it, people are able to relate their daily use of such an incredible source of information. This vast database allows viewers to eliminate any obstacle in the search and process of facts. Carr furthers this claim by stating, “…we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking- perhaps even a new sense of self.” He describes a new medium reached when brains neither processe nor contemplate a deeper meaning to what is resonating within the obvious text. In context, this type of thought process is one that is generated most commonly with younger generations, those who grew up knowing the benefits and shortcuts of using online resources. Being part on the “online generation” myself, the concept of not utilizing the Internet’s resources, or not having them available to use, becomes too to fully fathom. A time when people searched individual books and articles, racking them for information seems unnecessary and hard. The Internet has spoiled the youth with a lifetime of conveinence that has literally shifted the way that information is processed and created the largest ever known generation gap. This gap between eras described more than the classical shift in slang or drugs but insteade, there became a difference in the way that they thought and relayed information. Schools are now trying to compensate for this gap by transitioning their teaching style to accommodate the fast paced thinking learned from Internet use. The online generation however, only knows the fast pace that information flies at them through the web, while for those who are new to the concept of resources laid out before them feel the mental shift due to the lack of effort finding each source. In whole Carr’s argument is supported through not the younger generation who doesn’t know anything different than fast paced thinking, but with the older generations who have lived through the shift from book to screen and can feel the difference as their brain works differently to process the web. The shift to the Internet has sped up not only research but all life surrounding it, and people need to remember the value of slow thought processes and deep, conceptual reading.