Areisha's Reading Response to Nick Carr

In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nick Carr brings up the popular controversial topic of whether or not our generation's dependence on technology is taking a toll on our brains and thought processes. Carr speaks of how he personally has noticed a change in the way he reads and interprets information, losing focus when it comes to perusing long articles, and spending more time immersed in Web pages than lengthy books. Carr states, “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle,” elaborating on the fact that he can no longer lose himself in extensive text. It has become too difficult for his brain to concentrate on elongated written works. He mentions in the article that when he brought up his new-found difficulties to his literary colleagues they expressed kindred problems. Carr states, “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” Carr's point is that his experience is not singular in nature; many learned people are noticing a change in the way they read. Another of Carr's central claims is that it's not just our ability to read that is changing, it is also the way we think, due largely to the fact that as more advanced technology develops, our brains struggle to adapt to it. According to Carr, “The process of adapting to new intellectual technologies is reflected in the changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves.” In making this comment, Carr argues that humans are constantly adapting to their new inventions. He uses the example of the mechanical clock in his article, talking about how when the mechanical clock emerged, people considered their brains as operating “like clockwork,”(Nick Carr) and now they consider their thinking to be “like computers.”(Nick Carr.) Carr ends his article by explaining the point of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie that he based most of his thought processes for his article on. “As we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.”(Nick Carr.) Although I agree with Carr up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that we human beings are becoming like computers. It is a thought that is too scary to acknowledge. Computers are cold, emotionless machines, meant to make our lives easier, not to reprogram how we think. I do agree that the reading our generation does now is much different than the reading that was done in the past. But is how we think really that different as well? I do not remember a time before computers and the Internet so I can not truthfully say I have noticed any changes in the way I think. Computers and the Internet have made worldwide communication and research much easier to accomplish. A wealth of information is at our fingertips, just waiting for a strike of the keyboard. But is the Internet's influence really affecting our brains? My own opinion is no, but then again I have never done research on it. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. All I can say is that I really hope we human beings do not become the cold, emotionless machines we have so come to rely on.