For the past century, the way humans live and how they live has dramatically changed the course of time. The Internet has shaped our society by making some individuals lazy, dehumanized and developing lower self-esteem. The article, “Losing Our Souls in Cyberspace” by Douglas Groothuis, “Does the Internet Make Us Stupid?” by Hermann Maurer, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, and the interviews with Sarah Dorvil and Johnathan Smith shows the supporting evidence that the internet is having a negative effect on society.
From new inventions to new discovery’s and technology, the evolution of the lifestyle of people have advanced faster than any human could ever predict. However, is it for the good or worse? Is the advancement of new technology evolving faster than our brains can handle? Humans are obviously far more capable than other animals. There’s no comparison in personal capacities and social achievement. Therefore, are we losing what makes us human? Being provided with endless resources to information, communication and entertainment, technology has changed the way people think and how they do things.
With the internet people tend to get more invested with fantasy rather than reality. In “Losing Our Souls in Cyberspace” by Douglas Groothuis, he states, “The internet distributes information widely and quickly, but in a merely electronic form, which lacks the personal presence at the heart of discipleship, fellowship, and worship. When cyberspace begins to replace embodied interactions, we fail to honor the nature of humanity. We may be “connected” to people around the world through the Internet while we neglect our spouses, neighbors, and churches.” Groothuis means even though the internet is a useful way of communication and finding information, the Internet distracts us from our daily lives. Many people find that the social media are their homes. Having five missed calls or mailing piling up for days outside because of a gaming website shows us how easily a person can be dragging in. From spending time with our families to seeing information without thinking rationality. For example, many teens rather stay on the internet to communicate on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram more than communicating verbally. It has an impact on their social skills making it harder for teens to make personal relationships with friends and families. The internet also makes most people lose their ability to rationalize. People intake certain information in many different ways by the way they perceives things to be. However, the internet takes information to disperse it so it can be interpreted in one way. So, are we losing the human ability of thinking for ourselves?
Eighteen-year-old female Sarah Dorvil attending her freshman year at a University shares her experiences with the Internet and how it has affected her growing up. Sarah states, “The Internet is making me too lazy even though it’s a great source for information, like Google.” Many people rely on the internet for answers to their questions without thinking it through as a first option. For most people Google has become a dependency to a point where most people are being spoon fed information than actually learning Sarah also states, “That I don’t do anything productive. I rather stay home than go out.” The internet has a way of keeping us distracted and busy for a long period of time. From spending it all on playing video games online to interacting with people virtually, to online shopping. There was a time when all these activities were actually done physically. These advancements are positive for those who are physically incapable of doing it, but there are incapable people using them just for the convenience. Instead of a student going to a museum to do a project, some would automatically go on Google and find the paintings. The option of convenience has had a huge impact on what and why people do certain activities from online schooling to online shopping. This leads to people choosing the less challenging way out. This might be the reason of certain habits such as doing a certain task, studying, problem-solving. The Internet might be causing us to negligent.
With the investment of time comes the emotional investment of the internet. In the article, “Does the Internet Make Us Stupid?” by Hermann Maurer, states that “Knowing how to navigate the Net does not make up for synapses generated in our brain. We will be using algorithms doing some job for us (like calculating something, speech translations, finding a route, and other functions). Yet it is clear some basic information and the facility to do serious logical thinking must not disappear. Whether logical thinking can be best achieved by learning mathematics, or by some other means like learning how to play chess or bridge (might be more fun) will still have to be determined.” Maurer is saying that even though the internet is a good source, we might be losing the actual meaning of learning. In the book What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, Carr talks about the ‘The numbing effect’. Nicholas explains that the numbing effect is when you use tools to enhance our natural ability to do things but most people while using these tool may rely too much on the use and lose sight of their natural ability
Forty-eight-year-old Johnathan Smith, a father, and husband of four children has a lot of strong opinions on how the Internet has changed over the years. Being an older generation Mr. Smith hasn’t had the most advancement with technology and how it has evolved today. Mr. Smith states, “The internet is making kids more emotional in affecting their moods.” He further explains, “The Internet is showing kids images of what they should act and look like. Deterring them from what they personally like and want to do.” Women are now more active than men across major social media platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and have a stronger attachment to social networking than do men. Intense internet usage contributes to increased anxiety and depression and even psychosis. The Internet and what are often regarded as factors that influence girls and guys as a certain image. There are hundreds of studies that draw conclusions between media like the Internet and magazines with poor self-esteem. Mr. Smith states that “The Internet has made children less open to speaking their feelings.” Because of the lowering of the self-esteem of most children that the Internet has contributed, most children have had trouble expressing their feelings and opening up. The internet is a pathway to shallow relationships and emotionally detached communication. When we look into the Internet, we end up comparing ourselves to what we see. On the Internet, everyone’s life looks perfect but people will show you what they want you to see. We can be whoever we want to be on the internet.

With the help of The article, “Losing Our Souls in Cyberspace” by Douglas Groothuis, “Does the Internet Make Us Stupid?” by Hermann Maurer, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, and the interviews with Sarah Dorvil and Johnathan Smith supporting my evidence that the internet is having a negatively effect on our society. The Internet is showing just as much negative effects as positive. Therefore, it’s up to us to clarify and border ourselves with the amount and how we use them. We always hear the saying “ You are what you eat” but how about “ You are what you use”. Less can be more while using the internet.

Kellner, Mark A. “Losing Our Souls In Cyberspace.” Christianity Today 41.10 (1997): 54. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Dec. 2015.
Maurer, Hermann. “Does The Internet Make Us Stupid?.” Communications Of The ACM 58.1 (2015): 48-51. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Dec. 2015.

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W.W Norton & Company Norton, W. W. &, 2010. Print.