"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr

Is google making us stupid? (2008 July/August). Retrieved on April 8, 2011, from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Nicholas Carr's main argument is that the Internet, not necessarily Google, and its main effects on cognition and ability to concentrate. In the article, he believes that reading a book is better than reading anything off of the Internet to our cognition. He also highlights the importance that speech is innate, and should be used more because it is natural, and the ability to read has to be taught. He does realize that this claim doesn't have any psychological studies to back them up, though they are his theories. One of his examples is Friedrich Neitzsche's use of a typewriter and how his ability to concentrate may have been weakened by the typewriter (the advancement in that time). He also does acknowledge that the Internet has benefits, but the disadvantages are too many to ignore. I agree that spending too much time on the Internet may alter cognition and the ability to concentrate, but I don't think the Internet would be the only reasons for that to happen.