"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Response

This article immediately drew my attention, due to the parallels which it shares with my life. As soon as the Carr mentioned that he could feel a change in his thinking and his brain, I was hooked. The internet became a significant part of my daily routine sometime within the last year; between research for school projects and relaxation during breaks at work, I find myself spending more and more time on the internet. Within only a few paragraphs, Carr makes the same statement, "For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind."
In many ways, an ability to utilize the information superhighway is a positive attribute. The internet offers billions upon billions of sources of information, and thus just as many ways for individuals to further their knowledge. However, the point has now been reached that no, or next to no, work is required in order to find information. Furthermore, every source is inundated with tempting links to other locations that promise newer, better, more interesting information. Because of this, it's become hard for many people, myself included, to actually focus. The internet is now causing something akin to "the grass is always greener," in users, and as Carr explains, "Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages."
I feel as Carr does, in the way that my attention span has become shorter and my patience faster to run out. Pleasure reading all to often makes only the bottom of my priorities list, and is sometimes left off altogether. Projects are hard to complete because I constantly want to be doing something else. Worse yet, I can almost feel my vocabulary shrinking. Many of the sites I frequently peruse, such as CNN, contain relevant content... However, the articles there are written for "mass consumption," and therefore fail to expand my mind. I don't search for more because I've been informed, and thus it's time to move onto the next task. It seems that Carr and I agree; all too often my computer is left to think for me. Gone are the days when an ability to spell a word required an actual dictionary, and gone is such much more.
I'm trying, though, and so is Carr. I'm striving to retrain myself to pay attention, to focus, and to want to learn. A world of pop up ads and billboards doesn't help-but there's always Scrabble. Even now, though, I'm yearning to move onto my next task. No matter what, though, I want to avoid the state Carr is describing: "it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence."

ALSO: For anyone who's read the article by Carr and is curious about his references to 2001: Space Odyssey... I think this sums it up quite well!


Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid." The Atlantic. July-Aug. 2008. 02 Oct. 2008 .