Unit 4, Article 13: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Reference:

Carr, N. (2008). Is Google making us stupid? What the internet is doing to our brains. . In P. De Palma (Ed.), Annual editions: Computers in society (pp. 59-62). New York: McGraw Hill.

Summary:

The main point of this article is that using the internet and search engines is changing the way people think and process information. The author, Nicholas Carr, believes that as a result of using the internet, he has a shorter attention span and prefers to seek information by skimming quickly over the results that pop up on a search engine rather than by reading a lengthy article on the subject. He claims that he was once a “voracious” book reader, but now starts loosing attention and falling asleep after two or three pages of text. The author also sites other people who claim to be having the same shift in the way that they think as a result of spending a lot of time around the computer.
Using search engines and the web to find information is not a bad thing in and of itself; the author is concerned that the way we seek information is actually changing the way our brains work and the way our culture values knowledge. Rather than spending the time to read deeply the writings of any one author, we are skimming the works of hundreds of authors and only getting the main point of what each are saying. Our concept of knowledge is shifting from one of depth to breadth.

Reaction:

I agree with the author’s observation that media is causing people to change the way they prefer to get information. However, I do not think all of this started with Google. I think that newspapers, magazines, and TV have also played a part. People were channel-surfing on TV before they were surfing the net with their computer. I also think the author is correct in suggesting that people need to cultivate the habit of thinking about things critically and learning about a topic deeply rather than always finding quick and easy information online.