Summary of “ Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr, an American through the article “ Is GoogleMaking Us Stupid” convincingly argues that the Internet, through Google, has taken control over the normal functioning of the human brain. In the contemporary world, the mind is constantly changing. Carr attributes this change to the fact that the internet is reprogramming the human memory; hence, making humanity stupid (1). He illustrates this change by explaining how he would spend long periods “ through long stretches of prose” before the internet reprogrammed his mind (1). Carr echoes Marshall McLuhan’s argument that media shape the thinking process in addition to supplying the material for thinking. He [Carr] argues that the internet too has taken a toll over the process of contemplation and concentration (2). He explains this point by illustrating that the information available online influences the minds to be like a Jet Ski rather than a scuba diver; that is, not much thought is provided for information obtained from Google (2).
Carr employs the word ‘ stupid’ to explain that the human mind has taken over the qualities of the modern technologies (3). According to James Olds, a professor of neuroscience, the nerve cells wear and tear and form new ones. As such, the brain cells regenerate and reprogram; hence, altering the way they function (3). It is for this reason that Carr claims that Google is making humanity stupid because the “ intellectual technologies” extend mental capacities rather than the physical altering the independence of independent thinking. The human brain has taken the qualities of these technologies (the internet) affecting how individuals assimilate information.
Work Cited
Carr, Nicholas. ” Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 1 July 2008. Web. .
