The Internet Is Not Making People Stupid
In this era where all the information in the world has become very easy to access and acquire, it is hard to start imagining how life was like before the invention of the internet. Everything has become so easy with the use of the internet, you can get any form of information that you want at any time and place just as long as you are connected to the internet. It is a common thing nowadays to see an individual suffering from an anxiety attack just because the internet connection is slow or if a webpage fails to load; one gets so disappointed and is filled with rage. This is just an illustration of how important the internet has become to the society, but does this mean that the internet is making us stupid? I don’t think so.
The effects of the internet on the society is still young, it is true that the internet has changed the way that people think but this does not necessarily mean that it is making people dumb. The internet is bringing light to some of the bad habits that people have acquired that affects the way that one processes information. The internet makes people lazy and this affects their ability to memorize information. In his article, Carr (p. 1) argues that the internet is making people stupid, he illustrates that the internet has completely changed the way that people think for the worst. Carr (p. 1) argues that the excessive use of the internet does not let people think and read the way that they used to do before the influence of technology.
I do not agree with Carr’s argument, the internet has created a platform where the society has the chance to learn about everything that they want to without too much stress. Well the brain is changing the way that it functions because of the internet, but this is for the better. The human brain can be defined as a computer that often needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive to enable it to function better and the internet is what the brain needs (Harris, p. 16). The internet allows the brain to expand its mode of functioning, people now have the chance to spend more valuable time doing creative things that they would otherwise not be doing without the internet. Scientists in the past used to spend a lot of their time performing laborious tasks of analysing facts in order to come up with complete research (Farivar et al., p. 31). Today, with the help of the internet things have gotten easier, their minds have been relieved of the hustle through the internet and they now get more time to deeply consider the imaginative features of their discovery.
The internet has facilitated for worldwide partnership and collection of data and involvement, ideas and even philosophies all from the comfort of one’s computer. This is a conversion that is not in the brain erection but in wholesome access to material, it has given the typical individual the right of entry to massive information that is just readily accessible (Farivar et al., p. 22). In the past research was associated with spending hours and hours in the stacks of books in the library and this greatly affected the number of researches that could be handled and hence affecting development in the overall. With the Google listing, a person doing research can easily get related articles and information to the topic which gives one more time to compare the data effectively before completing a research (Harris, p. 23). The internet is a time saver; it helps save time by ensuring that one does not search for answers in thousands of journals and hence creating the chance for more researches to be conducted.
When it comes to the effects that the internet has on both the social and cultural behaviours, today people get to socialize with one another all over the world. There are smartphones, printers, personal computers that have the ability to receive wireless internet services and now different societies can easily engage in business deals without them having to make the long distance travel thus positively affecting the global economy (Farivar et al., p. 31). The internet has made learning in school easier since the students do not have to solely depend on what they are taught by their instructors in class. The students now have the chance to be independent and learn on their own during their free time instead of engaging in other time wasting activities (Harris, p. 13). The internet has enhanced the ability of the human brain and amplified its dispensation speed of attaining knowledge thus making the human mind more effectual in matters of multitasking.
The internet does not in any way make us stupid like it is suggested by Carr in his article, it is true that it makes people lazy because people are today doing less reading but this does not mean that people are becoming stupid. On the contrary, the internet helps in making people become smarter. The information that is found in various websites is meant to help people become more knowledgeable and hence smarter.
Works cited
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 13
June 2018, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/.
Farivar, Cyrus, and Vinton G. Cerf. The Internet of Elsewhere : The Emergent Effects of a
Wired World. Rutgers University Press, 2011. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=433408&site=ehost-live
Harris, Corey W. “The ‘Google’ Paradox: Is Technology Making Us Smarter?” Armed
Forces Comptroller, vol. 61, no. 1, Winter 2016, pp. 8–10. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=114546744&site=ehost-live.
