Is Google making us stupid?

Question

1. Nicholas Carr poses a question with the title of this essay. How would you answer it? What main examples does he offer to illustrate how Google is making us stupid? What counterexamples does he offer? What examples, on either side, would you add?
2. Talk to and interview a couple people, including some who grew up using the internet and some who remember doing research mainly using books. Write your own analysis of the impact of the internet on our ability to think, reason, and research, building on Carr’s essay and the anecdotes you collect.

Sample paper

Is Google making us stupid?

Question 1

Nicholas Carr poses a question with the title of this essay. How would you answer it? What main examples does he offer to illustrate how Google is making us stupid? What counterexamples does he offer? What examples, on either side, would you add?

Nicholas Carr, the author of the easy “is Google making us stupid?” feels that in a significant way, Google is making scholars and students lazy to conduct researchers and read like there before. To justify his claims, Nicholas gives an example of Bruce Friedman who frequently blogs about the use of computers. According to Bruce, he has lost the capability to read and internalize long articles on the internet or printed (Carr, 2008,). Through the internet, scholars can efficiently and quickly search for relevant information. It worth admitting that despite the internet making people lazy when it comes to reading, it saves scholars a lot of time which is then used to further their research and studies through the internet. The internet helps to narrow the research area while at the same time giving multiple answers on the same subject.

Question 2

Talk to and interview a couple people, including some who grew up using the internet and some who remember doing research mainly using books. Write your own analysis of the impact of the internet on our ability to think, reason, and research, building on Carr’s essay and the anecdotes you collect.

Based on the results obtained from the interview and discussion with those who have always used the internet to conduct a research as well as those who have used books for a long time, it is correct to state that the internet can bring both negative and positive outcome based on how it is used.  On one side, the internet is making people lazy and significantly reduces their thinking, reasoning as well as research since they are unwilling to go that extra step to obtain the information (In Aspray & In Ceruzzi, 2008). However, on the other side, the internet has positively affected thinking and reason by availing large chunks of data on a single database as well as providing a wide range of information and data. Therefore, it is correct to state that the internet is important when it comes to improving and enhancing thinking, reasoning and decision making.

References

Carr, N. (2008). Is Google Making Us Stupid? Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 107(2), 89-94. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7984.2008.00172.x

In Aspray, W., & In Ceruzzi, P. E. (2008). The Internet and American business. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.