Is Google Making Us Stupid?

The textual analysis of the Carr’s article

“Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Adesina Folasade

001178709

Writing 1000-I

University of Lethbridge

Dr N. Rebry

February 23, 2016

        Nicholas Carr in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008) presents an argument against the recent use of web and internet which he states that it has changed and eroded our ability to do deep and long reading that we used to do naturally which has now become a struggle because of constant use of web and net.  He states that our habits to reading are changing, that the Web has captured our attention and is now the default starting point for almost all work. Carr effectively uses emotional and logical appeals in his article to carefully convince his readers that although use of technology is good, he describes it as “godsend” and useful but that it brings more loss than gain (p. 89).

        Carr’s article describes the effect of using net, on our thinking, concentration and reading ability to read long pages of books or papers. As a writer, he finds the Web, a valuable tool, but he thinks it is having a bad effect on our concentration. He says "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski" (2008, p. 90).  He also admits that we now read a lot more because of the Web, but laments that "our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged." Carr concludes with very strong advice that if we continue to rely on computers for virtually everything we do, we risk turning into “pancake people” that is people with no or less knowledge and intelligence (2008, p. 94).

        To further spark emotions in his audience, Carr uses himself as an example, he describes how he could immerse himself in a book or a lengthy article with ease, how he could spend many hours strolling through long stretches of prose but that is not the case anymore. He states that “now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, and begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle" (2008, p. 89).  He further explains that the time he spends online is responsible for the change in his reading habits. He also refers to a 5-year study conducted by scholars from University College London in the UK, which found that people visiting their research sites "exhibited a form of skimming activity, hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they had already visited" (2008, p. 91).