After reading "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," I had mixed feelings about technology, human brains, and even the way I learn myself. Nicholas Carr did an excellent job of summing up exactly what most people either don't want to admit or are too foolish to admit. Personally, I absolutely loved Carr's writing style, word choice, metaphors, etc. One line that really stuck out to me in that sense was "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski." I just really thought that Carr managed to explain his thoughts with the perfect words, and he definitely got the point that he was trying to make across to his readers. By reading this article, one could clearly realize how much technology affects everyday life, our brains, the way we think and do things, and so much more.
As much as I hate to admit it, I had to agree with basically everything Carr tried to etch into my brain. I couldn't help but realize that technology has affected the way that I read, learn, research, etc. When I really thought about it, my researching basically consists of using the internet. The reason I do this is because I want all of the information that I need in the shortest and most efficient amount of time. The only time in which I use something else is when teachers require more than one type of source. Just as Carr wrote about, I switch from one website as I skim through paragraphs and paragraphs of information. Even then, I rarely return to most of those websites. I also find myself catching up on top news stories by reading the articles that pop up on Yahoo! news that manage to capture my attention. The realization of all of this has really made me wish that technology didn't play such a big role in my life.
I do think, however, that technology is not as big in my life compared to a lot of my peers. I do not use Facebook very often. I don't text every minute of the day. Surprisingly, one of my favorite things to do is to sit down and read a nice long book. I find that I like to read books for fun; however, I don't completely enjoy using books for researching. Because of this, I like to believe that my brain still has the ability to stay focused; however, I feel as if I have trouble making the deep connections that are sometimes required in class.
Overall, this is all very frustrating to me. I am completely unsure of whether or not my brain is changing due to technology. I feel as if it is in some ways, but at the same time, my brain is not yet completely taken over by technology. I do not completely look forward to the day that information goes directly to our brains or when they start to create artificial brains. I think that technology is extremely important to us in some ways, but in others, we need to slow down a little and actually do the work to learn. Shouldn't we worry a little more about keeping our brains working well, rather than creating technology to do everything for us? In a way, this is kind of embarassing to me. I think about how in the past, people got through life using their real knowledge, and now, we rely almost solely on technology. I want to use my own intelligence to live life, not the artificial kind.
I agree and reacted similarly to the article. I think embarrassment is a good term for how we should feel about the changes for the worse happening to our brains because of the innovations humans have made.
ReplyDeleteWhile I did agree with a lot of the things that Carr and yourself commented on, one thing you said caught my interest: "I want all of the information that I need in the shortest and most efficient amount of time." When I saw this comment, I couldn't help but think what could possibly be bad about getting the information you want quickly and efficiently. I don't think that people ever used to read an entire history textbook just to find one quote by Benjamin Franklin or read an entire encyclopedia just to figure out the characteristics of one specific metal. I'm sure they would've looked it up in the table of contents and skimmed the reading just like we would today. The internet just makes that skimming a little bit easier and makes it possible to do that research in our own homes instead of trekking to a library and scavenging for just the right book.
ReplyDeleteThe internet has certainly revolutionized human thought, and our generation will pay the price. Computers are useful tools, but we tend to rely too much on them. I agree with your statement, "I think that technology is extremely important to us in some ways, but in others, we need to slow down a little and actually do the work to learn."
ReplyDeleteYour post is very interesting and brings up a lot of great points. I agree with what you said about technology taking over too many people's lives (me being one of those people at times) and the fact that the advancement in technology is scary at times; however, you didn't state the incredible and great things that technology has also created. Without it, the vast amounts of information available to every one of us would not exist. It would be more difficult to research and learn about things that have already been discovered, in a way, without technologies that we have today, we would have to rediscover many more things instead of advancing.
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