Is Google Making Us Stupid?

1. What if the reason for a supposed decline in the ability to concentrate has more to do with advances in other technologies, not the internet? The internet allows us to access almost anything, but devices allow us to do multiple things at the same time causing attention to be dispersed between different programs.


2. "The brain,' according to Olds, 'has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions." So why wouldn't the brain be able to change smoothly from using the internet to reading a book? (Page 4)


3. On page 6 Carr seems to complain about Google trying to make information "universally accessible and useful." What is wrong with trying to make search engines as efficient as possible?


4. Why is the ability to have almost any information you need available to you as quickly as possible a negative thing?


5. "They found that people using the sites exhibited 'a form of skimming activity,' hoping from one source to another." In traditional research wouldn't the same type of technique be utilized, skimming the pages or table of contents for a certain piece of information, then discarding it if it wasn't useful?


Critics of the new technological advancements and their widespread use into all aspects of life argue that we are altering the way we think and the way our brains function. Nicholas Carr blames his loss of ability to focus on reading long books and his shortened attention span on the internet. His article "Is Google making us stupider is an attack on the way using the internet has affected his and others' brains negatively. Carr only offers a negative view of the internet in his article, in a contrast Adam Gopnik offers the three most popular takes on the internet and other technological advancements, In his article "The Information" he dubs the three perspectives the "Never-Betters, the Better-Nevers and the Ever-Wasers." Both articles argue the devastating effects technology has on our mind, although Carr is more dramatic about it.