Keon J. Group B- It's Carr Again...

In Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows he expands on his argument written in the Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” In the book, he argues that we are experiencing a neurological shift in the different way that we digest information read online. He believes that the internet is extremely distracting and that it is causing us to become more scatter-brained and less able to focus on one thing. He makes some pretty strong appeals to pathos by using real-world examples from friends and his own experience. As he states, I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy….I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle” (Carr 5,6).

When I read his article and the book of course, at first I was like…oh no, we’re becoming idiots and then… I really thought about it. Yes, there is more “stuff” online to distract us than ever before. Yes, we may get distracted by the sheer amount of information available online and yes it might consume us. But… that’s also the point. There is a ton of information available online. There are billions of articles that no one will ever be able to finish reading all the way through. There are tons of ads which we may choose to give in to or to reject. Ad blockers help… Skimming can be an issue but it can be avoided. I skim an article the same way I skim a book. I look for the main idea, and supporting arguments of the main idea. If I like the book, I’ll read it if not, I’ll move on to a better book. Skimming can be beneficial. If used correctly, it can help us flesh out ideas for writing, main arguments of an article, etc.

Instead of talking about how bad it is that we are no longer absorbing as much information as before, we should be focusing more on internet literacy courses in school. We should be focusing more on search literacy courses and info sessions. We should be focusing more on learning to adapt to what we have because… due to the sheer amount of information available online, more people can benefit from it. Carr discusses what we’re losing but, what about what we’re gaining.

Yes there are ads, but the ads themselves can be beneficial in their own right. No, they don’t necessarily teach us anything but I have used ads to find stuff that I needed. They’re there if we need them. (But… that’s also another issue, cookie tracking by corporations. Maybe he’ll discuss that later.)

But, ya know… maybe I’m just being too critical of Carr and thinking too optimistically about people. Yes, the internet does create problems related to distraction and skimming and such but it opens up so many more possibilities for collaboration, for interconnectedness, and for learning. The distractions of the internet might deter us every now and then but we just keep moving. If you want to delve deeper into a topic, you may. If you want to read an entire article, you can. Honestly, if Carr would’ve given an alternative to or a solution to the problem like McChesesney, I might’ve been more swayed towards his argument. The internet is there and we use it. If a bunch of studies come out tomorrow saying that the internet is the devil, people will still use it. Honestly I do agree with his main ideas but I think that we should be focused on fixing the flaws of the tech we have. We should be focused on using it effectively to benefit ourselves, our communities and the environment, not condemning it. Internet literacy is the key. Every new innovation will have its flaws but the importance is in how we use it. If asked, most people will agree with the ideas in the text but the discussion ends there. That’s great but... what’s next? Lastly, I think that McCheseney puts it best when he says that we should focus on re-educating the public.