When I first began to read this article, all my thoughts were skeptical. Just like most of today’s teenagers, I use Google and the internet often. But how can simply looking up a fact here and there and searching for a little extra information impact my entire thinking process? After reading the article, I feel that Nicholas Carr’s thoughts about this, backed up by many sources, are sadly very true.
The part that really made me feel like he was right was when he spoke of how “…[his] concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages…. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text.” In today’s fast-paced world, we all want to just do whatever we need to do so that we are done. Before the internet became commonplace, people would be able to sit down and read a large novel because they enjoyed it. Now, people just skim and hope for a decent summary because they can’t concentrate long enough.
In this day and age, many aspects of everyday life are run by some form of the internet. No longer are we basing our internet use on things that are already here, we are basing new things on the internet and its capabilities. The internet is changing the natural process of human thought into an automated, almost machine-like algorithm, intent on multi-tasking if necessary to get the job done. Ironically enough, I had just put a fresh CD in my computer to give myself a little bit of white noise before embarking on this article. Halfway through, I turned the music off after realizing that I was just like another statistic in this story.
Later in the article, Carr discusses how the Google founders feel about what it is becoming. Larry Page, one of the founders, stated that they are trying to make Google into something smarter and more powerful than people, which seems like a frightening concept to me.
This article really opened my eyes to how much of an impact the internet is having, not only on how we find information, but how we process and utilize that information. The next time I head to the search box for some quick info, I’m really going to be thinking a lot harder than normal!
Great post Alanna!! I completely agree that it is really scary how "smart" the internet and google actually are. I'm not going to lie, that part in the essay really creeped me out too. I also shared your same reaction to the essay. I was astonished how much the internet is involved with our everyday lives, and we don't really even notice anymore; even this assignment is based on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI also find it increasingly hard to concentrate when performing more enduring tasks. Whereas I used to read for leisure, I now often find myself becoming distracted and bored. I also agree that the Internet has revolutionized human thought. It has encouraged multitasking; this has, in turn, lessened the quality of some of our work.
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