Nowshad Hossain

English Composition 1

Prof. Jason Ellis

Google v. Nicholas Carr

Recently, I have just read an article from the atlantic.com. It is called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by  Nicholas Carr. Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet(Google) is changing the way we think and work. But this change is  not a good thing. According to Carr the Internet is making us stupid and distracted. I have to  politely disagree with Carr’s opinion here. Although the Internet is changing us, I believe it’s for the best. Because first of all, the Internet has become a great medium of education, Secondly, it is a great way to communicate with friends and family, Finally, even though Mr. Carr does not feel comfortable with modern technologies( In this case the internet) it doesn’t mean everyone else would have to support/agree with him. In this essay I will talk more about these topics and write the reasons why the Internet is beneficial to us in depth.

To begin, Carr’s whole argument that the internet is making us stupid can easily refuted when looking at the resources available to us now. We have Wikipedia, Online School and Library Databases, even college course all being served on the web. It is all in one and easy to access by everyone. According to a news article from “People’s Review Weekly” by Sagun Dhungana, “Google Apps for Education and this system is being adopted by more than 20 million educators and students worldwide” (Dhungana Par.2). Different Google based website and apps are being used for educational purposes everyday and by everyone. But Nicholas Carr describe this as, “the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.” “(Carr Par.31). Here Carr confuses availability with overload. What he failed to realize is that although the Internet has an endless amount of information, the user doesn’t necessarily try to access all of it.  Rather, just like when reading traditionally, we gravitate towards what we are interested in and what is useful to us. One great example of that is “Google Scholar “. According to an article called “Beyond Googling” by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, ” It(Google Scholar ) is an excellent choice for high school and college students as it accesses professional journals, books, reports, and other scholarly works. In the case of the Triangle fire, many of the links explore the effect of the disaster on future labor laws and safety regulations. When studying a topic such as endangered species, scientific journals would be listed.” (Lamb Par.3). This quote sums up that Google does not overwhelm us with information, but it rather gives us information in selective manner and topic wise. This proves although Google may have changed the way we read/study it doesn’t necessarily mean it makes us stupid by overwhelming us.

Another blessing the Internet has brought upon  us is the ability to communicate across worldwide without leaving our homes. After doing an interview with my mom( My mom is forty eight year old) who is not the biggest fan of technology said, she loves the fact that Internet allows her to communicate with her family members who are not living in US. Another interview with Ryan Tahal (A student) I have learned how much the Internet can be useful for  students. Ryan said , ” To me the Internet is like a blessing! Two years ago, I went to Guyana for 2 weeks because of a family issue. But during that time I haven’t missed any of my lessons. I was able to Skype with my friends who helped me learn what they did in the class that day!”. This interviews prove that people of all ages can use internet to communicate for their own benefit. On different Google based sites such as: Google Hangout, Facebook, Twitter people from all over the world can read about a certain topic and discuss about them with the rest of the world, not just with other people in their area, but with people who are actually being affected by the issue. Where before the internet, it would be impossible to see victim’s photos of the aftermath of a war or a natural disaster; Now people can see the affected area and are putting their own pictures up on the social medias and share with the rest of the world. This is something that Carr fails to mention in his article. It is undeniable that the cultural experiences are a part of our education.  How can something that makes this experience so available be making us stupid?

Finally, my whole argument comes from someone who has used Internet for most of his life(Me).  Carr mentions Socrates in both his article (Is Google Making Us Stupid?)  and book( The Shallows). More than 2,000 years ago, a Greek philosopher named “Socrates” complained that the new technology of “writing” will create forgetfulness in the learner’s soul.  Because they will not use their memories like traditional way. So he advised everyone to  only memorize something and never write it down. Today we all know how that went. Internet is the new technology. The Internet contains the world’s best writing, images, and ideas; Google lets us find the relevant pieces instantly.  Perhaps for someone of the older generation, the Internet is too vast to handle properly.  Someone’s brain may not be able to handle it and is having a hard time dealing with the overload of information available.  For someone of the my generation and younger, the internet has mostly always been there.  Our brains do not have to change for the internet, we developed with it.  As such, it may be the case that the younger generation is better capable of using the Internet properly.  We may not get lost in a sea of hyperlinks! and losing our way as we wander from subject to subject.  From personal experience, I have always been able to find the information I need and use it to my liking.  Carr believes that the internet would not allow the “intellectual vibrations” that the printed word would. It’s really a matter of focus and perspective.  It’s about using the internet responsibly and not becoming overwhelmed.

As we know nothing in this world is perfect . Google is not perfect either. Once you are on Google you are on Internet. And internet has everything to offer that you might have ever wanted.  So sometimes it is easy to get sidetracked. A quote from Nicholas Carr should explain this theory . Nicholas Carr said “The Net bombards us with messages and other bits of data, and every one of those interruptions breaks our train of thought.”  What Nicholas Carr  is trying  to say is, sometimes people gets so overwhelmed  on the internet that they can not find the information that they came for and ends up wasting hours after hours in Internet . You can be doing homework but you take a trip to Google, next thing you know you are on Facebook then later on YouTube. Now you’re so far away from what you were just doing. You might waste hours surfing the web, when all you came for was for an answer to a question you didn’t know. Well I wouldn’t say that I completely disagree with  Nicholas Carr but I think he is not  seeing things the right way. That is way he used Science fiction movie(2001: A Space Odyssey) reference in his article instead of putting more real evidence. When you use something too much or unnecessarily it could harm you. One example of that is water intoxication. We all know water is life but when you drink too much water at once it can kill you. So no one should be using so much internet in first place. In end of the day, no one is forcing any one to use Google. So people who think that Google is making you stupid then don’t use internet, it’s very simple !

In conclusion,  I would like to say Mr. Carr without a doubt a great author and he is definitely better qualified than  me to write about any topic( Almost any topic). But there is one difference between us, which pushes me higher than him in matter of perspective. Which is the generation/ age gap(Nicholas Carr is lot older than me). I am not trying to say that he is a old cave man but he is definitely afraid of changing . Beside that he is only focused on one topic. That is the Internet is changing the way we read book and how is that effecting our brain . He is so focused on that single issue that he fails to see all the other benefits of internet which I have talked about previously. In this essay I have talked about how the internet has become a great medium of education.  Secondly, it’s a great medium for communicating with friends and family. And finally Nicholas Carr may be incorrect. I believe internet is the next evolution in human history!  It would change us or at least would change the way we think but it would possibly not a bad thing!

Works cited

Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 July 2008. Web. 05 Dec. 2015.

Dhungana, Sagun. “Educate with Google.” People’s Review Weekly. N.p., 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

DiLonardo, Mary. “When You Drink Too Much Water Too Fast, What Can Happen?” WebMD. WebMD, 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Hossain, Salina. Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2015.

Lamb, Annette, and Larry Johnson. “Beyond Googling: Applying Google Tools To Inquiry-Based Learning.” Teacher Librarian 37.4 (2010): 83-86. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Tahal, Ryan. Personal interview. 21 Nov. 2015.