Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Quynh Nhu Truong

Rachel Cox

English 300

17 September 2011

A Critique of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Today, the Internet is most commonly used in our lives. We use the Internet for homework assignments, searching for information, reading news, watching movies, and so on. Almost everything is involved with the Internet in the last couple of years. It is a great tool for us to catch up with our lives and get updates for the news. The Internet also makes life much easier for us. We are using the Internet in our daily life, how can it have negative effect in Nicholas Carr’s mind, a writer who has been through different technologies? One of the articles that Carr wrote is “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”Carr wrote this article to show the readers how effectively the internet can change a person. Carr argues that technology is making people change their reading habits from time to time. It also changes the way minds process information into their brain.

In the article, Carr explains to readers how the Internet changes the way his mind processes information and the habits of reading long books, articles, and newspapers. Carr begins the article by showing how his reading habits changed in the last decade. The invention of the computer and the internet has made life easier for a lot of writers like Carr. Before, Carr usually would go to the library to gather information for all his research papers. Now, with the Internet and Google, Carr does not have to go anywhere, but just in minutes he can still gather all the information that he needs by clicking on a website and skim for articles. Also, Carr believes that his mind is changing because of the way he uses internet; it has been “tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory” (Carr, 57). This habit occurs not only with Carr; it also occurs with Carr’s friend, Bruce Friedman and others. Carr also mentions the study from University College of London, a five-year research program that...