Author: Nicholas Carr
published in the Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2008 Vol. 302 Issue 1, p 56-63
Is Google Making us Stupid?
Throughout the article the author discussed his inability to stay focused on longer pieces of writing because of his excessive use of the internet. I started to know how he felt around the third paragraph. He also thinks that the more we use the internet to satisfy our short term needs for information, the more our retention of information goes down. We obtain information a lot differently now then we did 20 years ago, which has changed us. But whether it's good or bad i'm on the fence. Yes people aren't specializing in something specific quite as much, but instead getting a very broad understanding of a little of everything. Which brings the question is it better to have a narrow deep understanding of one thing, or a broad shallow understanding of a little of everything? I don't quite know the answer yet, but I don't think Google is making us stupid. Google is making us efficient, in the workplace most bosses I've worked for don't care if you know everything. As long as you know where to get the information. That is what Google does for us, it brings every piece of information available to it to answer your question. And as for the argument that internet information is unreliable: you have to know where to go. Just like in a library you wouldn't go to the scifi section for information on the specifics of Aleutian home living. You wouldn't go to facebook for information on information on the future progress of plasma cutters. Know where to go and don't stray from the marked path, the internet can be treachorous.
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