Will Taylor
7/26/11

When it comes to the topic of humans not being able to retain information from long novels, most of us will readily agree that this is true. Where the argument usually comes to an end, however, is on the question of does the internet cause this. Whereas some are convinced that this is true, others maintain the fact that this is due to evolution.
While reading both Carr’s and Cascio’s passages, it was hard to distinguish which person was correct. Carr claims that internet has made people skim books and not thoroughly read long novels. I have mixed feelings about this because on one hand I agree on the part that people do not want to take the time to read long novels like War and Peace. But on the other hand, I still insist that internet is not the cause for this. I believe that gaming, such as Xbox, Play station, Netflix, and other games cause people to not want to read. Their mind is used to having action every second of the day, and when it tries to focus on reading, it does not have the patience to. Overall, I agree with Carr that humans cannot read as long as they used to, but I do not agree with him on the part about the computer causing it.
Cascio says that things are evolving, like they are supposed to. I agree with this position over Carr’s position. Carr, Cascio and I all believe that there is a change happening regarding attention span while reading, but Casio says this is not a problem and that it is evolution. This is true and I believe it because there is no evidence internet is causing this. Overall, I believe Casio is correct and Carr is wrong when discussing the question of, Is Google making us stupid.