Curry 1

Quinten Curry
Amanda Ross
English 102.022
01 May 2015
How The Game Was Changed.
The internet is a tool that a vast majority of us use in our daily lives for various activities.
For some, the internet is used to analyze documents that would be otherwise unobtainable. For
others, the internet is used for entertainment and creation. As time goes on and the amount of
information that is uploaded to the internet is increased, the question that is asked is: how is the
internet affecting us? Nicholas Carr is an author who has written on the impact and affect
technological advances have had on the human mind. In his 2009 article Is Google Making Us
Stupid? Carr outlines how the internet (or, the Net as he calls it) has significantly changed our
way of thinking, just as previous advancements in technology have. Carr, in his article, claims
while the internet is useful and convenient, there are many impacts that are happening to our
brains as well as to be discovered. I agree with Carrs claim due to first-hand experience with the
impacts he details.
Thinking back to my grade-school years, I was an avid reader of fascinating and quite
challenging books. I also loved to use technology and play games on the computer. I did not
pause for a moment to evaluate how my use of technology and the internet was affecting me until
my senior year of high school when I realized I was not reading complex and deep thinking
books such as Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events, which have complex themes
and a very dense plot. One of Carrs arguments for how the Net is affecting us, is our ability to
read has been significantly impacted; more so in the respect of our concentration on reading
material. For example, Carr provides a statement from Bruce Friedman, who blogs about
computers in the medical world and is also a Pathologist at the University of Michigan Medical
School, stating I cant read War and Peace anymore, Ive lost the ability to do that. Even a

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blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it (qtd. In Carr
93). If Friedman, a medical professional, is having difficulties focusing on books and lengthy
articles as an effect of the internet, then we can assume various other professions have also felt a
similar stinging pain. However as Carr says [a]necdotes alone dont prove much (93), which is
true considering they are just personal testimonies and are specific to the individual. The
question of how does the internet affect the mind? still has not been answered. Maryanne Wolf,
a developmental psychologist at Tufts University, worries that the style of reading promoted
by the Net, a style that puts efficiency and immediacy above all else, may be weakening our
capacity fordeep reading(Carr 94). A medical professional who specializes in the thought
processes of human minds, is worried that the internet is weakening our ability to dive deeper
into the readings we engage in. With a statement such as Wolfs, one wonders about the medical
information that has been collected on the effect of the internet on reading. How does that
information help us change our brains back to their previous state if we so choose? Is changing
back even possible in the current state of our cultural environment?
The many questions we ask while learning help to engage our curiosity and bring forth
ideas which drive our educational pursuits. Carr brings our original question of how has the
internet affected our minds? and brings in another way: communication. Communication with
other humans is an important skill we must have in order to survive emotionally. If one does not
have that contact, they may become depressed and require medical assistance in order to provide
relief for that condition. The internet and media have adapted to the consumer over the years and
have provided quick and simple ways to read news, view entertainment, or provide content for
the net. According to Carr, in March of 2009, the New York Times decided to devote the second
and third pages of every edition to article abstracts, (97). The New York Times has been
around since 1851 and if they are being forced to adapt to the culture of hurry up and go, then

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we can see a snapshot of the effects that the internet is having on communication. Does this also
reach over to our smartphones? According to Carr, yes. In another of Carrs articles, The
Patience Deficit, he states Our gadgets train us to expect near instantaneous responses to our
actions, and we quickly get frustrated and annoyed at even brief delays. (motherjones.com).
This statement, in an article about time and how we are becoming impatient due to the increased
expectation of speed in our technology, can be connected to the internet speeds as well. I have
had moments where I have become frustrated due to the inability to access an article quickly for
various reasons. At the of the day, I either click off the article and search for a new one, or wait
for however long the article takes to load, rather impatiently might I add. This reliance on quick
and instantaneous access to information or entertainment, has caused us as a culture and society
to expect nothing less than the fastest and the best, which can lead us into deep waters of trouble
if we are not careful.
The internet and how the internet affects our cognitive function will be a discussion
which happens over a countless amount of years. Due to the ever evolving nature of technology,
we may never have a set answer to our questions about the effects on our way of thinking and
our brains. However, people like Carr who ask the important questions provide base information
through which we are able to view and absorb, give us a gateway to determine avenues through
which we can grow as individuals and dive deeper in to the pool of information.

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Works Cited
50 Essays. 4 Edition. Samuel Cohen. Bedford/ St. Martens. 2014:Boston Print.
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/06/nicholas-carr-smartphones-turning-us-impatientth

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