Clay Shirky’s “Does the internet make you smarter?” has shown me how similar the affects that invention of the internet and printed books had on the generation of people that used it. I wouldn’t have usually seen this similarity because books and the Internet are not associated together as much due to their physical features. Many people, like Martin Luther and Edgar Allan Poe, during the printing press thought that books were a great evil and were going to make the younger generations stupid. His essay showed me how it is often that the increase in freedom to create and consume media would make younger generations stupider is what scares people. Clay Shirky mentions that this type of fear has been seen throughout the printing press era as the production of erotic novels and can also be seen today as the pointless videos that we consume on the Internet everyday. Even though both medians have their early negative effects, however the Internet may soon evolve into something far more better than what it is at this point of its era.

In Clay Shirky’s Does the Internet Make You Smarter?, he presents many cons related to the Internet that opposition would argue, but refutes each one perfectly. Shirky argued that the past was not as peachy as older generations are trying to make it seem, using a quote by Martin Luther, saying that “the multitude of books is a great evil. There is no measure of limit to this fever of writing”(3). The Internet actually has similar cons to it as books do. Yeah, the internet comes with ridiculous videos, theories, and opinions, but so do books. What Shirky made me realize that I did not realize before was that “our cognitive surplus(free time) is so enormous that diverting even a tiny fraction of time from consumption to participation can create enormous positive effects”(2). Rather than watching tv, we are exploring the Web and essentially finding out about a plethora of information so easily that we before were not able to do. Of course when there is an evolution in means of creating material, there is going to be “throwaway material” as Shirky calls it(5). However, the same occurred when more andmore books were being written in the past, so to handle this, we must find a healthy medium to Internet use, similar to Nicholas Carr’s solution in Is Google Making Us Stupid.

In Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid” The author makes very good points both Negative and positive. Carr Says “Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done within minutes.” That is a good thing now and days because it speed up the learning process or the process period for whatever someone may be trying to do that requires research, and is helpful for someone who might be an extremely busy individual. For a negative effect, Carr states in his piece that Bruce Friedman, Who Blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, describes how the use of internet has altered his mental habits.”  Bruce Friedman Says “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print.”  That part of Carr’s piece made me realize that i am the exact same way because i rely on internet too much now and days, which results in me losing focus quickly on pieces of writing and not being able to understand many pieces of writing in a deeper level. This helped my realize that the internet is training my mind to be able to just absorb summarized pieces that explain everything for me instead of me doing it on my own.

In the article “Is google making us stupid?” Nicholas Carr asserts that cyberspace is a key to all answers. Carr explains that people rely on internet way too much. People will use the internet more than their own intelligent to do research papers and projects. Carr also shows that the use of internet has made it a struggle to read for him. Carr uses studies to show that technology is bad for people and that it won’t help in the long run. What stood out was how “intellectual technologies” is being used as a casual routine. We become more and more loss with our intelligent that our technology controls our mindset. Google in a way is cutting out our natural intelligent and that we rely on it more frequently. As Carr said “I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text” showing that he is stuck on the internet. The more we are stuck to the internet our brains won’t obtain information long enough to remember, and we will create an easy way find the answers to problems but not the meaning. To others the internet may make us smarter, but the more use of the internet we won’t be able to remember important details and have to rely on the internet for everything. The internet is universal over a billion people use it but those billions of mines are becoming lazy and way of obtaining information the natural learning way will be through technology.

After reading the article “Is Google making us stupid” written by Nicholas Carr, he brought so major points as to why he believes the internet is making us lazy. Out of all of the points that he made in the article, one point stood out the most. The point he made was that the internet is making us “pancake people.” What he meant by this is that we as humans are spreading the use of the internet. It has become a major part of our lives. We always have to be on the internet looking at the latest video that is trending, we have to use the internet for our homework, and other distracting things. The reason why we’re “pancake people” is because just like a pancakes spread, we spread on the internet. We go from one website, to another website, to another website. We rely to much on the internet and we don’t really use our own heads when it comes to project, everything is on the internet. It’s not only the internet. It’s our phones in general. When ever someone text us we have to respond right away, we wake up and look at our phones, when we walk, we look at our phones, when we want to check the weather, we have to look at our phones. We can’t live without our phones is what Carr is saying. They have become a big part in our communities and everyone on has to have them. In today’s world you’ll see a three year old with an iPad, a seven year old with a iPhone, and a thirteen year old with a laptop. It’s like everyone have to have something nowadays and it is making us lazy. Also when people go to events, all you see is people on there phone, posting the “great time” they’re having at the party on Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook. It’s like there isn’t an escape from the internet in today’s world.