Is a website making us stupid? More specifically, is a search engine making us stupid? Is this a joke? Was author Nicholas Carr trying to bump up his page hits with the most ridiculous topic he could think of?
The World Wide Web, along with search engines and specific news sites allows us the ability to find an abundance of information quickly and efficiently. Not only that, but rather than spending hours searching through one academic journal we are able to sift through numerous sources with varying perspectives.
In the article, Carr quotes a blogger named by the name of Bruce Friedman. (he blogs about the use of computers in medicine) Friedman says, "I can't read War and Peace anymore. I've lost the ability to do that." WOW! First off, utilizing a specific search engine and reading online articles does not affect your ability to read a long novel. Perhaps, you personally have just become too lazy to read it. Second, who is Bruce Friedman anyways. Basically anyone who owns a computer nowadays considers themselves a "blogger." What gives you the credentials to make an educated connection between your lack of reading and your online habits?
Within the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr says that "what the net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation." Come on now! The internet has no effect on your capability to concentrate or contemplate anything. If you can't concentrate or analyze a particular subject then it's all on you buddy!
Seriously though, why would anyone pay to go to college then? Why would employers pay more for those with a Masters Degree then a Bachelors Degree or likewise more for those with a Bachelors Degree then a high school diploma? In college, we are taught to utilize all the facets of the internet and thus is why our generation has increasing success with education.
Mr. Carr, you need to find yourself some new, smarter blogger friends and get a clue. Your personal capabilities or lack thereof when it comes to reading and researching online have nothing to do with the system of the internet and everything to do with you!
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