Analysis Of Nicholas Carr's 'Is Google Making USupid?'

Nicholas Carr bases most of his writings on technology and culture. As most people know, todays generation relies highly on the internet. The internet provides information that could easily be found in book but people choose not to do so. The internet is the go to whenever you need to find something quickly. However, Nicholas Carr, author of "Is Google Making Us
Stupid?" argues that we are turning "machinelike", relying too much on the internet for information not allowing our brain to work hard enough. Carr claims, "the internet has altered his mental habits" (316). Basically he is blaming Google for the way his brain works and not being able to read correctly. This essay will explain why Carr believes "Google is Making Us Stupid."
Carr starts off his essay by
commenting on how the net is taking away his
"concentration" and "contemplation" (315). He is unable to keep his mind focused when he is trying to deep read. His concentration begins to vanish after the first couple of pages of reading.
Carr explains that he "gets fidgety, loses the thread, begins looking for something else to do"
(314). Carrs' brain has now turned into something more like the internet. Carr complicates matters further when he writes, "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski" (315). Carr believes this is because when using the Net you don’t have to go in depth.
You can look something up and the answer is right there. He has now turned into the guy on the Jet Ski, just skimming the surface for the answer. Not going the extra Buller 2

step and going further into the context. Carr uses an example from Friedman that states how the internet has changed his mental habits. He isn't able to "'absorb" the information anymore (316).
This ties back to just skimming because our brains aren't working properly. On one hand I agree with Carr when he says we are just "power browsing" on the internet. But on the other hand I believe we can still go in depth while using the internet.
Carr furthers his argument by bringing about the 14th century mechanical clock. Lewis
Mumford had described the clock to be "the point of reference for both action and thought"
(320). You can use to mechanical clock as a metaphor for the internet. Google is the point of reference for all people. Carr states, "Today in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating "like computers" (320). "Them", referring to our brains, has changed. Just like the mechanical clock our brain has adapted to work just like a computer. The internet
is
"becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our radio and our T.V," according to Alan Turing. (320) There is no way we can go in depth if the internet is giving us all of our answers. People expect the internet to be there for them at all times. I do believe our brains are working more and more like the internet, but there are those few people who still use the books.
Therefore the internet is the main source for all answers. Google may not be making us stupid but it doesn’t let us use our brains the best to its ability. We need to keep in mind, "it is our own intelligence the flattens into artificial intelligence (328). Don’t rely on the internet as much as we are doing now. Carr proves his point through the use of some of his friends and the use of technology. While everyone loves using Google, maybe we should use our brains a little more and open a book. I don’t necessarily agree with Carr because I believe the internet is very Buller 3

useful. Its not making us stupid, it just not letting us use our brains how they should be used, and we are doing stuff the easy way.