You may use the following questions/prompts to guide your response:
- Put the chart and the article in conversation with each other
- Does the chart refute what Carr seems to be arguing? Does the chart support it any way?
- Were you surprised by something you read in this article?
- Do you agree or disagree with something you read in this article?
- Was anything unclear to you? Why?
- What questions do you have after reading this text?
- Did you learn something from this reading experience?
- Was this reading experience enjoyable for you? Why or why not?
- Make a connection between the reading and your life
- State whether you like or dislike the reading and why
- Talk about how the essay met, or failed to meet, your expectations
- Critique the text
- Take one part of the text and expand on that idea
- Analyze the author's style, tone, or word choice
In your response, you should:
- mention the title and author of the work you are discussing
- provide a very short summary at the beginning (one or two sentences)
- provide at least one quote from the article
After you've submitted your response, read your classmates' posts. Then choose one and respond to it. You may want to pose additional questions, respectfully disagree with a point, or point to interesting ideas. The purpose of this task is to create a dialogue around a text using an online forum.
Nicholas Carr wrote an article called, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?” which explains how people rely on the Internet for everything especially reading. Nicholas Carr uses many details and quotes to explain his point that the human brain is rewired towards the way of thinking. Everywhere we go technology has increased that we are able to send text messages or emails from anywhere you are.
ReplyDeleteCarr says, “Thanks to ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice.” I agree with his statement because unlike the 1970s, we use cell phones to read messages, and televisions to read what the show is about or read the subtitles. Cell phones were only used in the 1970s to make calls and not text. People may say that we are not reading enough as we should be but we actually are.
However, I both agree and disagree with the title, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I agree because we now rely on Internet to give us the answers to everything we want to know. What happens if the Internet stops working? People wouldn’t know what a library is or where to find one they would rely on their GPS and not a map. Otherwise I disagree because the Internet does help us gain knowledge for our education and helps us to communicate with each other faster rather than waiting a week for a letter. The Internet may have some ups and downs but has helped us to learn and read more.
-Candace Campo
I wonder if reading more today than reading in the 1970s or 1980s is a good thing? Or is it a bad thing? You have a point we do read enough even if it looks like we don't. It's the little things that count like text messages and street names. And you're right the internet does have its ups and downs. That's what makes it very controversial.
DeleteMobolaji Arogundade
ReplyDeleteIn the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr tried to prove that the use of the internet on a daily basis caused a big change in the way he is able to read and take in information. He stated that “I’m not the only one… the more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing”. Carr also used a lot of quotes from other people and different studies and surveys to solidify his claim.
Reading this article was a wakeup call for me because I realized that most of the things that were stated in the article were actually true. Even while reading the article itself my mind wandered off and I got bored very quickly. I even fell asleep twice! I also found myself constantly checking my phone and my Facebook. I disagree that Google or the internet is making us stupid; I would say that the constant use of the internet can make us to become easily distracted but that does not mean that we are stupid. Although reading this article did make me feel a bit stupid it also motived me to change my attitude and methods when it comes to reading.
I did not like the fact that the author used a lot of unnecessary words and phrases. He could have said everything that he needed to say using half as many pages. The article was also very redundant. Throughout the whole article he said the same thing and made the same points using different words. Overall the article was not bad it was just to lengthy.
I totally agree with you, the author is discussing about how the internet caused us to lose our concentration so easily;When I was reading, everything that the author brought up had became true, I was on my phone and I am using Google to find out the definition of an unknown vocabulary instead of using the dictionary(Which the author also mentioned in the article, the internet is replacing the other intellectual technology).
Delete“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” is an article written by Nicholas Carr that talks about how the internet takes a big role in what seems to affect not only his reading but others as well. Carr provides quotes from people that are affected and provides various examples of technology taking a toll on society. But it all depends on the way we cope with all of this.
ReplyDeleteCarr says, “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.” I totally agree with that because that actually happened to me as I was reading this article. I realized what he was saying was true since I was constantly distracted by the internet. But another reason was that the article was just too long and boring, which made it hard to continue reading. He made his point towards the beginning and didn’t have to provide so many examples throughout the rest of the article.
He gave many good points to his idea but I disagree with what he said. The internet is a useful tool for society. It gives us the same exact things that books do and it also serves as a quick way to communicate with others. Although we may read books and not seem to be able to concentrate that doesn’t mean we are incapable of learning. It’s just an adjustment we have to face.
-Michelle Quito
I agree with you. While I was reading the article I was also being distracted constantly. I would look up others things, check Facebook,listen to music, etc. The author did get his point across in the beginning and used a lot of examples that I just felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again. I think he just did that in order to make people realize what the Internet is doing to us.
Delete"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" written by Nicholas Carr. In this article, the author proved the idea that internet is influencing the way people think and read, as well as affecting people's level of concentration when it comes to reading an actual piece of literature. Nicholas Carr proved his argument by providing other professionists' opinions and research.
ReplyDeleteI agree with his opinion because when I read online, there are always other side distractions next to the actual article, for instance advertisements, notifications, other hyperlinks, etc. The internet is actually training us to multitask; the author provided a perfect example in his article where he said "A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we're glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper's site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration." I had never realized that little thing like this can take away my attention so easily. As I get used to the distraction, I found it hard to focus on reading long textbook passages and always end up falling asleep. While I am reading online, I am just taking in information that is given to me; I stopped making association with the text. Information is becoming too accessible that it is no longer necessary to remember anything, which ultimately weakens our memory capacity. Online reading might seems very convenience nowadays, but, nevertheless, we should not forget the traditional reading style- reading a book under a quiet environment, taking some time to make our own association and developing our own ideas.
-Joey Chen
I completely agree that there are too many distractions when dealing with a lengthy piece of literature. I always find myself, even during homework like yesterday's, difficult to concentrate in due to Facebook, advertisement, etc. I believe that the more technology that is being made is replacing things that humans would do on their own where one day we might not even need our brains. I think this because today we rely so much on technology that we aren't able to exercise our mind to do things like remembering events that will take place in the future. This is simply because he have technology to do that for us.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis article gave so many examples of “systems” that we created are weakening our human’s original way of thinking. I was really stunned when Carr pointed out that word’s exist had weaken our exercise of memory through Plato’s words, I had never thought of that. And I am strongly agree with him that Net might take over our traditional sense in reading. I am wondering how we can receive information properly if we can’t focus on one subject anymore. Author Nicholas Carr also argue how weak our brains are in front of strong search engines: “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.” I wonder if we can still control our “systems” by using our weak brain in the future.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Net doesn’t only provide negative influences to us, there are reasons why it is playing an important role in our life. Without it, we are not able to see and hear news from other countries, we are not able to communicate with friends who are far away, and we can’t deny it is a great source for we to study. I think it really depend on how we use our medias, if we use them properly they can be really helpful for us. After all, I am really appreciated that Nicholas Carr pointed out how technologies can be a serious hidden danger in today’s world.
-Chenxi Chen
Recently we been having so many technological changes, where our lives are being consumed by media and advertisements. In which we can’t focus in an article or a ebook that we reading. Nicholas Carr explore this in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. In his article he talks about technological advances and the way it has affected society. For example when Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter “His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful” until he started typing with his eyes closed and he was able to focus again in writing his books and novels.
ReplyDeleteAs Carr continue in his article he explains how even simple technology has a big effect in society. It also explains how it has made people think differently depending in the technology. I believe that we can all agree in the fact that we are being consumed by technology and that we have stop reading books and is difficult for a person to spend one day without any type of digital technology we have. We can also agree that most of us, is really difficult to stay focus in one thing, it is also more difficult when our smart phones are giving notifications. \
In the Bar Graph of “The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed Reading Books, Show Them This Chart”. Clearly shows that the percentage of people reading books and novels has double since 1949 to 2005. This means that since our technology is becoming more sophisticated, cheaper, and easier to used. People have gained more access to books and articles. Yet, only because people are reading more doesn't means we are getting smarter or more focus. Many of this articles and books could only mean that people are currently reading it but that doesn't mean they finish the book.
I agree with you that since we created technologies we became overly rely on them rather than our own brain. And this article gave many examples for how we were changed; like what you described, we might read more today but we can't focus on what we are reading anymore. And I really want to see a bar graph that describe the percentage of people who can finish a whole book according to the years,I think it might match what u had said.
Delete-Jesus Bautista
ReplyDeleteAs I pulled up my chair to my desk and read the title to Nicholas Carr's article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" I automatically made the assumption that the article was going to be about how the internet is affecting people today. As I read the article, there were things that surprised me like the fact that the internet has the ability to affect anyone. It says in the article that the internet has the ability to affect people like Nicholas Carr's himself who himself said "Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or or three pages…The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle" (3). I agree with Carr because I feel that if there weren’t so many distractions, as there is today, someone who isn't an excellent reader like me would actually read more books to help build the mind.
Apart from the article I also took a look at a chart made by Alexis C. Madrigal which shows how, in fact, we read more today than we did in the past. The chart isn't 100 percent reliable but we can assume many things on the history itself. For example we can assume that the graphs show a higher percentage in 2013 because of the value of education had changed. Once again these are assumptions, so Carr's argument is stronger in this case because he brings facts along with people to support those facts.
After finishing the article I was left wit questions like how serious is this matter to someone who would probably never need to read a whole book for the rest of his life? Another question that I have is how can we today fix this problem while satisfying both books and the Net? In the end I really enjoyed this article because this article made me realize in fact how long I am actually on the internet just wasting my time when I could be improving my way of reading.
In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” written by Nicholas Carr, the author demonstrates that people who abuse using internet as a tool for searching and surfing can result in lose of concentration and contemplation, he also use other people’s point of view to support his idea of how can technology had disadvantage on people’s reading. When I was reading this article I was surprised by the discovered made from James Olds, he state that human brain is infinitely malleable even when they reach adulthood, billions of nerve cells inside human brain routinely break old cells and form new ones which made our brain has the ability to reprogram itself.
ReplyDeleteIn the other part of the article, the author state “The more they use the web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing”, this quote can best explain why Nicholas Carr feel so much prejudice toward reading on internet. He thought that people nowadays are losing the ability to stay focus on certain long piece of writing is because there are so many distraction on the website such as ads, pictures, videos, sometimes news pop-up, and a lot of hyperlinks which prompt people to hopping from one source to another. I agree with Carr’s opinion because sometimes when I doing research on the website, I often got attract by certain interesting links and videos, and I rarely go back to my original page that I was working with.
I was very enjoyable about reading this article because it gives me knowledge about how can the internet influence us negatively like chipping away our capacity of concentration. But nothing is perfect on this world; everything has its advantage and disadvantage, just like the internet. In my opinion, I think internet makes our life more convenient, back in the time, people need to buy newspaper to know what’s going on in the world, people need to go movie theater for watching movie, people need to buy stuff in stores. While since the advance in technology, people can now do these entire things just by sitting in front of computer and click keyboards. Also when people have question they can just google it and get all the information they need, they don’t need to go library or bookstore, it can safe a lot of time for us.
-----Jingwei Chen
The article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” By Nicholas Carr states that the internet has been affecting the way in which people read. Technology has affected us so much that some people cannot read a long article without getting distracted in some way. Not only are the readers being affected by this but the writers as well. Writers have to now find ways in which they can get the reader’s attention. “…The New York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts… Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient”. This shows that in order to get people to read the newspaper the stories have been made shorter. Newspaper editors have decided to make the stories short so that way the people can be informed of what is going on.
ReplyDeleteIn the article Nicholas uses many examples and research done to prove that the Internet has been affecting our attention span when it comes to reading. Some people have to reread what they just read or start doing something else before they finish reading a book or article. One of the reason this happens is because on the internet we see different things that catch our attention. "They found that people using the sites exhibited "a form of skimming activity," hoping rom one source to another and rarely returning to any source they'd already visited." I can agree with this because there are times in which when I am on the internet researching something but end up looking at other things. When we are on the Internet there are many other programs or topics that we find interesting and make us lose focus of what we were originally searching for. The internet is a helpful tool but we should not let it affect our reading. We have to try and stay more focused on what we are reading because in the long run it can affect us more than we think.