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.
