Nikhil Misra

Nikhil Misra

In his article “Is Google making us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr suggests that the use of Google and the internet is making people less intelligent, not only by the way the Net distributes information but also by the ubiquity of text on the internet as well as the popularity of other media. With the style of reading promoted by the internet, a style of efficiency and immediacy, Carr claims that our former capacity for deep reading is being weakened. He points out how with the widespread use of text messaging on cell phones, and various text on the internet one can access, people are still reading but they are reading in a different way. Carr asserts that people are doing more skimming and have become more impatient when they read. His point is that as technology and computers progress, we are losing our own ability to delve into deeper reading.
“Get Smarter” by Jamais Cascio agrees with Carr that people are changing over time and the way people consume information is changing. However, Cascio believes that it’s a cultural thing and it’s not due to the internet. His point is that yes there is more information out there due to the internet but it is not the internet’s fault that the way people think is changing. He attributes problems such as “skim reading” which Carr pointed out, to be due to our lack of tools for managing the new technology in our world. In fact, he thinks Google may be part of a solution, rather than being the problem itself.
In the article “Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber” Clay Shirky argues that media has become more abundant and its average quality has dropped but the Net is a good thing overall. He argues the opposite of Carr in the sense that he thinks the Net will come to improve our reading. His views are somewhat similar to Cascio by the way he thinks technologies impact on people is just a societal metamorphosis. Shirky asserts that although the Net may be having negative effects now, it will come to be a good change over time, much like the printing press did.
I myself believe that the internet is indeed affecting the way we read. I don’t feel as strongly as Carr on the topic but I definitely noticed in my own experiences that I tend to skim and not delve too deep when I read, and I use the internet a lot. So there may be a correlation between my use of the internet and my unwillingness to delve deep when I read, but I can’t say for sure. There are other possible factors like that which Cascio pointed out, like the point that it may be a cultural thing. I tend to agree with Cascio and Shirky that social norms are just changing, and over time that change will be a good thing even though right now it appears to hinder our critical thinking and deep reading ability. I believe that Google is not making us stupid but the way people (like myself) consume information is changing.