Overall, I love technology. I love being able to have a more efficient way of doing things, and the Internet provides that. My cousin learned to play guitar almost entirely from YouTube videos. When my family and I want to see a movie, we just open the Moviefone app on my mom's phone and we can find out what's playing at which theatre. If one of my best friends doesn't know how to get to the place where we're meeting, she uses her GPS as a guide.
That's why I was slightly peeved when I read the title to an article called "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" After all, stupid is a strong word. My cousin isn't stupid because he typed into Google "guitar tutorial" for a song he wanted to learn how to play. In my opinion, he's incredibly smart, because he found something he wanted to do, and he did it.
The author of the article, Nicholas Carr, claims that the Internet is changing everything about us- how we read, how we write, and in general how we react to certain situations. More people are finding that as the Internet expands, their attention span shrinks, especially when it comes to reading- with advertisements and pop-ups exploding all over webpages nowadays. A study from the University College London indicates that many of its students gravitate towards skimming than thorough reading, since Internet articles don't require staring at each sentence for five seconds before understanding it.
After reading the article, I will freely say that I agree with the author's point- technology has changed us, and will continue to change us. Through technological advances, it can be more difficult to remain satisfied with long books when there are Cliff Notes, or listen to the recitation of Old English poetry when the latest Michael Bay movie is on cable. However, technology can also just as easily be used as a tool to sharpen our minds. Let's not forget Carr wrote his article on the Internet- writing a book takes longer, and this article reached just as many people- even more. During a recent trip, my sister and I spent hours doing online crossword puzzles to stimulate our minds, but also, they're just fun to do.
I still don't know how I feel about all of this. It's very unsettling, so I'll leave you with a question:
How can we react against this way of thinking?
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