Is Google Making Us Stupid?

I personally feel that technology effects the way that we live and think. Technology has changed the way we think because when we need to find a piece of information we immediately think to Google it. Technology has also changed the way we live our lives. People as a whole spend more time using the internet and computers than they used to.

Technology has not changed the way people read and write. People still read the same as they used to; if a person skims when they read a printed essay then there is no reason that they would read it any differently if it was on the web or the computer. Technology has not changed the way the people write; writing has changed because of the changing interests that people have. For instance books similar to War and Peace are no longer written because not many people enjoy reading them, but not because of technology. The only way that technology has affected the way people write is that now most people type instead of using pen and paper.

In the essay Is Google Making Us Stupid Nicholas G. Carr concludes that, “as we come to reply on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence” (Norton 972). I personally agree with his assessment of what could happen if people become too dependent on technology. I personally use technology regularly throughout the day. I use technology for almost all of my communication; I use texting, email, social media, and many other types of technology. I think that it is important for people to be careful not to become so reliant on technology that they would not be able to live without it. I feel that I do rely on technology more so than I probably should; I could live without it, but it would not be easy. I even do my school work completely online.

I feel that while technology effects the way that I think and live, it does not affect the way that I read or write. When I write a research paper on my computer, the only way it is different is that using the computer is faster, it does not make the writing itself any less difficult. However, when I do the research for such a paper, I immediately think of Google so in this way technology has changed the way that I think and live. I believe that technology has not changed the way that I read. Before I started really using my computer for reading I would often be reading about two to three books at a time. I do not think that that is any different from going back and forth between two or three different online sites or articles.