G O O G L E
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
We are able to get more information faster and easier from Google than we ever could in the past, especially, about topics that we would never fathom to research. Despite the endless information that can be exposed to a person with just a click of keyboard buttons and a mouse, In Is Google Making Us Stupid? author Nicholas Carr talks about how he believes the Net makes us think less because it is easy access to get information from. In other words, it is always available.He explains how the Net has caused people to be more impatient, unfocused and the changes that have occurred since people have been relying on the internet for information.Carr also convinces us that his friends are having the same problem when he states, “I’m not the only one.When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances… many say they’re having similar experiences.”(Carr, 2008, The Atlantic blog.) He is frustrated that he cannot sit down and enjoy reading a long book as he is done in the past.
We are able to get more information faster and easier from Google than we ever could in the past, especially, about topics that we would never fathom to research. Despite the endless information that can be exposed to a person with just a click of keyboard buttons and a mouse, In Is Google Making Us Stupid? author Nicholas Carr talks about how he believes the Net makes us think less because it is easy access to get information from. In other words, it is always available.He explains how the Net has caused people to be more impatient, unfocused and the changes that have occurred since people have been relying on the internet for information.Carr also convinces us that his friends are having the same problem when he states, “I’m not the only one.When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances… many say they’re having similar experiences.”(Carr, 2008, The Atlantic blog.) He is frustrated that he cannot sit down and enjoy reading a long book as he is done in the past.
I am on both sides of the fence. I certainly agree with Carr when he talks about being impatient and unfocused, writing this post for my blog took me almost an hour because I was so distracted by going on Facebook and checking out other things on the computer,I was going back and forth so much, I forgot my train of thought writing this post.
There has been countless of times I went to a website to learn how to do something, followed the directions, and didn’t print it out anything. Unfortunately, I ended up “googling” it again because my brain was not trained to store information from years of the conveniences the internet brings. As a result of being unfocused in the past, I printed out Carr’s article because reading it on my laptop was too complicated for me. To continue reading the passage, there was too much work to be done such as, clicking hyperlinks and scrolling, I needed something tangible that I can hold in my hand, highlight words I don’t understand (and “Google” them for the meaning) and write my thoughts down.
The company that invented Google refers to it as, “the perfect search engine,” and is doing the work of the mind (Carr, 2008, The Atlantic. blog.) Well, that about sums up why it’s making us stupid, we don’t have to think anymore, what is Google trying to do - get rid of brains?
On the other hand, Google definitely offers endless information on various topics, it is available 24/7, 365 days every year. Therefore, if you have an online class—No, you cannot say, “It’s snowing outside so, I cannot come to class,” good “ole’ Google” will still be there for you rain, sleet or hail (unless your power goes off, then you can use your cellular internet, ha ha).
The most overall interesting point in reading this article was something that I said to my son the other night while reading a book. He couldn’t understand what a word meant and I unconscientiously said, “Google it,” This is before I read this article by Carr, so that leads me to believe that it is making us lazy and that goes back to when Carr’s quote on humans being impatient and having that, “right here, right now,” mentality.
We have to do better to challenge our minds because there will come a time when we will not have access to anything, we rely heavily on the internet and Google to give us answers, but Google is not a human and can only give you the information that humans have programmed into it. With that being said, humans are possibly heading down the road to extinction.
Carr, Nicholas."Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The Atlantic. July 1 2008.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us- stupid/306868/.
There has been countless of times I went to a website to learn how to do something, followed the directions, and didn’t print it out anything. Unfortunately, I ended up “googling” it again because my brain was not trained to store information from years of the conveniences the internet brings. As a result of being unfocused in the past, I printed out Carr’s article because reading it on my laptop was too complicated for me. To continue reading the passage, there was too much work to be done such as, clicking hyperlinks and scrolling, I needed something tangible that I can hold in my hand, highlight words I don’t understand (and “Google” them for the meaning) and write my thoughts down.
The company that invented Google refers to it as, “the perfect search engine,” and is doing the work of the mind (Carr, 2008, The Atlantic. blog.) Well, that about sums up why it’s making us stupid, we don’t have to think anymore, what is Google trying to do - get rid of brains?
On the other hand, Google definitely offers endless information on various topics, it is available 24/7, 365 days every year. Therefore, if you have an online class—No, you cannot say, “It’s snowing outside so, I cannot come to class,” good “ole’ Google” will still be there for you rain, sleet or hail (unless your power goes off, then you can use your cellular internet, ha ha).
The most overall interesting point in reading this article was something that I said to my son the other night while reading a book. He couldn’t understand what a word meant and I unconscientiously said, “Google it,” This is before I read this article by Carr, so that leads me to believe that it is making us lazy and that goes back to when Carr’s quote on humans being impatient and having that, “right here, right now,” mentality.
We have to do better to challenge our minds because there will come a time when we will not have access to anything, we rely heavily on the internet and Google to give us answers, but Google is not a human and can only give you the information that humans have programmed into it. With that being said, humans are possibly heading down the road to extinction.
Carr, Nicholas."Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The Atlantic. July 1 2008.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us- stupid/306868/.
All Can Be Lost;The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines
Believe it or not, back in the days when paper maps were actually popular (and the only thing people had for direction) I did not even use one, I trusted my instinct to guide me and I used my knowledge of school-North, South, East and West to help guide me places I did not know about. Yes, I did get lost but not to the point of no return, but I learned how to maneuver and use my common sense to get where I needed to go. The the Global Positioning System came along also called GPS in the year 2000. This was a great tool to help guide you travel. One day, I bought one and used it, I got lost using the GPS- I guess I didn’t get the updated software for the GPS because new roads were being built around the area and the GPS could not pick them up unless I updated the software. In this case, the machine technically failed me but if I were paying attention to the surroundings as I did when I did not have a GPS then I would have listened to my common sense and made that right turn instead of kept going straight, where there was a ginormous sign that read, “NO OUTLET.” Therefore, I would like to mention the article I read in the magazine The Atlantic called All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machine written by Nicholas Carr. Carr talks about people relying on machines and software to do things for us so much that we “ignore or discount other information sources, including our own eyes and ears,”(Carr, 2013, The Atlantic blog) and what happens when the computers fail. I agree with Carr 100% when he speaks of computers weakening our awareness (Carr,2013) because if just as with the GPS situation I encountered, when I saw the sign, even though the GPS system told me to go down that road, I should have used my mental ability. The machine was right there telling me what to do, why did I need to think? On the other hand, machines help us become more productive in the workplace and provide us more time to do some strategic planning for other innovative ideas for the company. However, a computer cannot think logically about situations that occur in everyday life, it just performs the duties that are programmed into them that a human has to provide. There is a quote in this article that reads, (Kelly is commenting on the link between automation and pilot error in this quote),“The technology theorist Kevin Kelly argued that the obvious solution is to develop and entirely autonomous autopilot: Human pilots should not be flying planes in the long run.” (Carr, 2013, The Atlantic blog.) This statement was also connected to Carr’s article titled Is Google Making Us Stupid? The company for Google explained how they were striving for the search engine “Google” to think for humans. In brief, If this happens there will be an enormous amount of job cuts in the future, more that there are today. Can we afford for this to happen? Carr, Nicholas."All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines." The Atlantic. November 2013. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-great forgetting/309516/. The Pointlessness Of Unplugging Technology has almost taken over our social and sentimental aspects of our lives. Most people live online; chat rooms, social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram just to name a few have influenced our lives in some sort of way. Unplugging is defined as basically a retreat from technology to "reset" oneself from the virtual world which was referenced in Casey Sep's article called, The Pointlessness of Unplugging. In the article Sep discusses reasons for unplugging and mentioned a website where people who unplug join a website which includes self-submitted portraits of people who gives responses as to why they unplug. The people that have posted discussions have said that they unplug to spend more time with family and to be connect to the world outside of the internet. People have created a virtual identity of themselves that does not exist in the "real" world. We spend so much time on the internet, we sometimes forget our priorities. I have unplugged before without even knowing this was an event that people were practicing, it doesn't do anything for me because it has been a time when society didn't have cellular phones, email, and computers and we survived just fine. Technology is not bad at all, all we have to do is have self control. I read an article called, " Can We Really Unplug?" written by Katie Roiphe, that ties with this article when she says, "We don’t use the Internet; it uses us. It takes our empty lives, our fruit fly attention spans, and uses them for its infinite glittering preoccupations." (Roiphe,2012,Can We Really Unplug: The Illusion of Internet Freedom. Slate Magazine) This is so true to me, we are vulnerable creatures to the internet. Although this was an interesting read, I needed Cep to elaborate more on the meaning of “unsustainability” as a problem with unplugging, “let’s not mistake such experiments in asceticism for a sustainable way of life.” She doesn't define the meaning of the way she is using the word. Again, unplugging to me is unnecessary, if people can practice self-control and portion/content control (limits, by using our time wisely) then any type of social media or technology will be used as an enhancement on our work priorities and not become so much as a hindrance on our daily production. References: Cep,Casey N. "The Pointlessness of Unplugging." The New Yorker. March 19 2014.http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture- desk/the-pointlessness-of-unplugging. Roiphe,Katie."Can We Really Unplug:The illusion of Internet freedom." Slate Magazine.January3,2012. http://www.slate.com/.../01/why_is_the_freedom_app_so_popular_.html | |
THOUGHTS ON........
My thoughts on...... Digital Natives-Do they Exist? and Digital Natives/Digital Immigrants(video)
I am on the fence about this topic, I feel as though sometimes the younger generation does speak another language when it comes to technology. I understand what Sadowski means when he says, "parents believe there’s a drastic divide in need of a bridge," (Sadowski, 2014, The Baffler ) this is exactly how I feel when it comes to the "attitude" about technology as the video Digital Natives/Digital Immigrants explained. The Iphone comes out with new technology every year and I'm barely caught up to the current technology and that's because I am not interested.
My cousin's daughter is 4 and understands every feature on her mothers Ipad. Before I took this course, we joked about her being born knowing technology before it was even taught to her. She now is a pro at navigating through all sort of screens on that Ipad, and she taught me how to use some features as well. It is definitely taught, she watched her mother use it over and over again.
Overall, I do believe that because the younger generation has grown up with it they are more computer savvy however, I don't believe in Digital Immigrants- I was born in the 70's and when I was 8 (I remember it like it was yesterday) I got a Nintendo for Christmas and I didn't read any instructions and I hooked it up and started playing it the same day. This is evidence for me that Digital Immigrants does not exist. -It all depends on the individual.
I am on the fence about this topic, I feel as though sometimes the younger generation does speak another language when it comes to technology. I understand what Sadowski means when he says, "parents believe there’s a drastic divide in need of a bridge," (Sadowski, 2014, The Baffler ) this is exactly how I feel when it comes to the "attitude" about technology as the video Digital Natives/Digital Immigrants explained. The Iphone comes out with new technology every year and I'm barely caught up to the current technology and that's because I am not interested.
My cousin's daughter is 4 and understands every feature on her mothers Ipad. Before I took this course, we joked about her being born knowing technology before it was even taught to her. She now is a pro at navigating through all sort of screens on that Ipad, and she taught me how to use some features as well. It is definitely taught, she watched her mother use it over and over again.
Overall, I do believe that because the younger generation has grown up with it they are more computer savvy however, I don't believe in Digital Immigrants- I was born in the 70's and when I was 8 (I remember it like it was yesterday) I got a Nintendo for Christmas and I didn't read any instructions and I hooked it up and started playing it the same day. This is evidence for me that Digital Immigrants does not exist. -It all depends on the individual.