Nicholas Carr in “The Shallows” (2010) asserts that, “The Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use. Carr supports this assertion by telling us that we’re often oblivious to everything else going on around us. The real world recedes as we process the flood of symbols and stimuli coming through our devices” (118). The writer concludes that the resulting self-consciousness, even at times, fear magnifies the intensity of our involvement with the medium. Carr makes a direct tone to explain how the exception of alphabets and number systems, are so powerful to our brains and can alter our minds.
Carr believes that the Internet is alternating the way our brain functions. It is addictive.
Carr describes the way our brains have changed as a consequence of using media. He later reports that when new or improved technology enters our lives, we begin to take on the qualities of those technologies, because it changes our “intellectual technologies”. He also uses the analogy of a clock, presenting the idea that we eat, work, sleep, and rise based on what time of day it is, instead of listening to our own senses. Carr then uses the claim from a 1936 British mathematician named Alan Turing that computing systems are subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies such as our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and our television. Likewise, he explains how the internet assumes what we are thinking and injects its context with hyperlinks, blinking ads, headlines, and other propaganda.
“Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory…” or so Nicholas Carr feels. Could you imagine a Dawn of artificial intelligence? A new world where the human mind was replaced with technology. There is an article that Carr wrote, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” where he describes, in great detail, the fact that he feels the internet is changing our minds and revolutionizing the way we think; but is that such a bad thing? Carr believes so.
One of Carr’s main arguments would have to be that he sees the internet as a benefit and also very harmful in the same sense. He speaks about how “The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer” and how it has been a useful tool to him. It has made it much easier and faster to research information
He claims that people should remain vigilant when openly accepting any computer network or technology. Carr’s viewpoint from start to finish is that the Internet is shifting the way that the present age group thinks, by changing the way we develop information.
In the book The Shallows author Nicholas Carr explains how he believes that technology is taking over everything and changing the way we think and process information. As a reader I also believe that technology is changing the way we process information because of all the examples he uses to prove his point. In the different chapters he gives examples from past historians and psychologists to explain why he believes the things he does, Carr also interviews college professors and doctors to see if they have noticed a difference in themselves or in patients of theirs with the same problem, and lastly throughout the book and on the internet there are multiple reviews on the opinions of the technology. In the Shallows Nicholas Carr gives examples from past historians and psychologists to explain why he believes the things he does.
Carr expresses that his mind and how he thinks changed due to the new phenomenon “the Internet.” He proves his point by explaining that the internet has reprogrammed our minds to want everything quick and complete. To me, this was effective because once the reader thinks about it, they start realizing how accurate this actually is. By successfully, including pathos he interacts with the any type of audience and has them mentally
Emily Montes de Oca Professor Donaldson SPC 3230 June 14, 2016 Rhetorical Analysis: Finding Nemo Disney movies are really well known for teaching kids valuable life lessons in a way that they could understand. Finding Nemo teaches the importance of family and how to face your fears for those that you love. The movie focuses on two fish, Marlin and Dory trying to find Marlins lost son Nemo after fishermen took him. Since Nemo is the only family Marlin has he is very protective over him, and before he was born he grabbed on to, what was only just an egg at the time and said, “I will never let anything happen to you”.
He mentioned how the Internet is making people wanting quick information so they don’t have to read articles or think about any answers. Carr is talking based on his experience with the Internet, because he is including himself as one of the people who had been effected by the Internet. Any reader can notice the amount of first- hand knowledge on the Internet problem. Also, Carr spoke in his article “the Net is becoming a universal medium’’, that shows his readers that Carr is very relatable to anyone else using the Internet. This allows his readers to believe Carr’s judgment, that he used
Carr points out that people are getting lazy and relying on shortcuts. Another viewpoint he mentioned is the internet and how the machine are designed for searching programs, and finding what interest people. This creation of the internet was to create information for people to access. Carr believes that Google and other search engines are trying to replace the human brain, and the way we think.
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? (79)”, this quote is from the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Carr believes that we depend on the Internet more than just looking up the answers in the book ourselves. He is trying to prove that our generation is consumed by the Internet. In addition to this, I feel his argument is effective because he builds credibility with personal facts, using statistics, and making emotional appeals throughout the essay. He gives many details and examples to backup and support his argument. Nicholas Carr gives himself credibility by stating that he knows what’s going on in his own mind, this is where he is uses ethos.
In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr discusses the internet’s effect on human thought. This is perfectly shown in Chapter Nine which is titled “Search, Memory.” Carr speaks on how the internet effects long term memory. The chapter quotes one of the smartest minds in the history of Western Civilization, Socrates. Socrates is quoted, “Writing down their thoughts and reading the thoughts of others had written down, they become less dependent on the contents of their own memory.”
The Influence of Technology In the essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that utilization of the internet has an adverse effect on our way of thinking and functioning in everyday life. Whether it be reading a newspaper, or scrolling through Facebook, internet media has forever stamped its name in our existence. Carr explains to us that the internet is a tool used every single day in today’s society, but also makes most of us complacent with the ease of having the world at our fingertips.
Our way of thinking is beginning to change to the way that computers do. Advancements are made everyday. These new advancements are attempting to make life in general easier for everyone. Nicholas Carr makes the claim that, “as the internet because our primary source of the information it is affecting our ability to read books and other long narratives.” Carr suggests that using the internet is altering the way that our minds operate.
Nicholas Carr's argument against the internet was very strong, and it persuaded me. It is very difficult for me to go against his opinion. I agree that the internet is changing us, but not in ways we think. There are long-term effects of using the internet as often as we do. He states that the internet is changing the way our brains function such as having a shorter attention span, negatively changing the way we critically think, and negatively changing our reading skills.