Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle

Jessi Haggerty-Denison

Is Google Making us Stupid?

The article, Is Google Making us Stupid?, by Nicholas Carr, is a worthwhile read, as it brings to light the effect the internet has on our brains.  His main point in this article questions the fast growing use of the computer and the internet for gathering information, reading the news, checking the time, the calendar and so much more, is changing our brains to the point that we no longer have the skill to sit and read a book or for that matter read even a lengthy article.  He feels that the computer is re-wiring our brains in such a way that we seek information in quick, small bits and are losing the capacity to read or perhaps do anything that takes time, depth and perhaps patience.  I agree with Nicholas Carr’s point.  People’s way they access information has changed as a result of the internet, but I’m not sure if it’s that people don’t have the capacity to read at length or if they just don’t have the desire.  And I also disagree that it’s a bad thing as he suggests in his article.

Every advancement we’ve made over the past 150 years has been to make life easier.  The clothes washing machine and dryer certainly changed they way we wash and dry our clothes making it much faster and more convenient.  Has it changed the experience of washing and drying clothes and thus altered our brain and the way we think?  Most likely it has.  I remember when I was little, once in a while my mom would hang the laundry out to dry and it was fun being outside and running through the clothes line where the bed sheets were hanging.  That experience is certainly different than throwing clothes into the dryer, turning and knob and listening to the rumble of the dryer.  And I believe that any experience we have effects the brain. 

I think inventing new and more efficient ways of doing things is part of human evolution.  I believe it’s an innate desire to want to improve, grow and advance ourselves and I don’t think we can stop this process.  However, I do believe, that it’s our free choice as to how we use the things in our lives that make things easier. The internet has allowed us to get our work done much faster than ever before. But what most people have done is they fill up the time saved with more and more work, instead of using that time and space to relax, play, or create.  A choice has been made that we use technology to work faster and work more and why I don’t agree with Nicolas Carr’s article questioning whether Google has made us stupid, is because we have free choice on how we use technology and what role it plays in our lives.

We tend to feel as though we’re victims to whatever is being put out into the world.  Subliminal advertising, cigarettes, the internet, the tv – and then we blame those who have produced it.  I say it’s time we grow up as people and start recognizing that we have choices on how we use technology and stop blaming google or any one else.  With whatever we do in life, let’s look at the situation and ask ourselves, how can this benefit me and how can it harm me?  And then make a conscious choice on how you are going to proceed forward into the future.

“ If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture. In a recent essay, the playwright Richard Foreman  eloquently described what’s at stake:”  I agree with this quote from the article, but I don’t agree that we can only achieve this by stepping away from technology or the internet.  I believe we can use the internet and take full advantage of it’s speed and efficiency and use the time saved wisely.  We can use all the time the internet has saved us by seeking out the quiet spaces and balancing out our lives with other enriching activities that don’t involve the computer.  As with most things, too much of  one thing isn’t usually good for us.  By consciously choosing our time spent on the computer and our time spent on other activities, we can exercise our brains for optimal use.