Kylie Roseman

EN 102

Response Essay

4 February 2020

Digital Dummies

What is always in reach, accessible anywhere, and something we all love? Google!

Google has been many modern-day people’s textbook for many years, but has it seriously been

making us less intelligent? In his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr, a New

York Times author and blogger, answers the question his title poses: yes, Google is making us

stupid. He describes how Google has made users less intelligent through excessive use (315).

Although Carr incorrectly argues that Google has made its users less intelligent, he correctly

argues that the Internet could make us lose the importance of basic human culture and that the

Internet largely influences our minds.

Modern-day teenagers have unlimited access to the Internet, and most of the knowledge

they take in is from the Internet. As asserted by Carr, “Net is becoming a universal medium, the

conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind”

(315). Carr recognizes that he receives most of his information from the Internet. He

acknowledges that research today is not what it used to be. I agree with his statement in the fact

that the majority of the information I receive is from the Internet as well. For example, my

preferred field of study is psychology before taking the class, I would research psychology terms

on the Internet and then later read about them in my psychology book. However, Carr feels as
though receiving most of the information from the Internet has caused more than just our lack of

motivation to do research.

Carr feels as though the Internet has taken over our brains. He states, “Never has a

communications system played so many roles in our lives--or exerted such a broad influence

over our thoughts--as the Internet does today“ (321). To summarize, he feels as though our minds

are greatly influenced by the Internet. As a teenager, I can agree that the Internet has a large

influence on our thoughts. I am an avid user of Snapchat and other social media platforms. The

content teenagers my age see on social media largely influences our young minds. For example,

if we see an ad for clothing on Instagram posted by a celebrity, we are more inclined to like and

buy the clothing. Not only does the Internet influence our minds, but it could also be changing

teens’ brains in a drastic way.

Carr mentions in his essay that we are losing our “quiet places”. By “quiet places he

means the ability to think without interruption. He points out that “If we lose those quiet spaces,

or fill them up with ‘content,’ we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in

our culture” (Carr 327). The meaning of this statement is that the Internet could possibly make us

lose the importance of our basic human culture, such as the ability to think without interruption.

Due to the Internet, I feel as though being able to think without interruption has become a

problem. It has become apparent that kids and teens in recent years have more difficulty paying

attention and keeping focus. I believe that this is due to our constant want for our cell phones.

Oftentimes, I notice myself zoning out in class, but when I am on my phone, it is difficult to lose

focus of what is on the screen. I feel as though technology has changed my generation and

generations after my own to the point where we will never be able to live without the technology
we have been provided. I do not believe that Google or our phones have made us less intelligent,

but they have instead shifted our need for learning through technology rather than books, also

decreasing the amount of individual thinking we do. However, reading information has always

been how we learn even if it is from a credible source on the Internet, we are still obtaining

information.

I agree with Carr in the sense that technology has changed how our brains think, our

ability to focus, and that we receive much information from the Internet, and that largely

influences our minds. However, I do not agree with his statement that Google makes us less

intelligent. Technology should not be seen as a threat but as a resource. It is something easily

accessible, ubiquitous, and loved. We should not shut ourselves off from it but instead embrace

it.
 Work Cited

Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" They Say I Say with Readings, by Gerald Graff et

al., 3rd ed., New York, W.W. Norton and Company, 2015, pp. 313-29.