Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Nicholas Carr wrote the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that mostly talks about how much internet usage has changed people’s lives. Carr stated a fact that people now replace reading books and the old research methods with the internet because internet allow them to easily find everything with just a couple of mouse clicks. The internet limited people’s reading skills because the online information that they find were short simplified messages. In this article Carr explained the reason behind was that search engines have special word filter system that make it easier for people to find information than compare with spending more time looking for information manually through a book. In Carr’s example of Bruce Friedman, Bruce stated that he lost his ability to read and understand lengthy articles because he overused the search engine. This example reinforced the realization that Google can be a good and fast way to find information, but not a good idea to use it too often. Some people tend to stay online reading about anything they want to know, but some of the information are useless. Overtime people might lose their reading and understanding skills. These skills are not given to use at birth, but they are something that people must build upon as they keep practicing throughout their lifetime. Increasing the time spent on Google search engine indirectly reduces the time spent practicing on more challenging readings.

Is Google making us stupid? I agree with Nicholas Carr to a certain point. I can see that Google can make some people become less intelligent, but only if they use it wrong. Some smart people use Google and they got smarter because they use it correctly. I enjoy using Google also for lots of things because it just an easy way to find out the answer in a short amount of time. When I need to understand something or have a question, the first thing to my mind is “Google it.” Sometimes when I enter a weak search keyword, it might take a long time for me to find an useful answer. Research has found that many people will use “a form of skimming,’ in the results they got. Skimming meant that the users quickly skim each website until they land on one that fits their answers. On the other hand, Nicholas stated that “our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connection that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.” We tend not to read more than what we saw on TV because we do not want to spend the extra time and energy to read deeply. However, the way we read directly affect the development of our brain; therefore it is not always good to use Google too much because we might lose the deep reading ability. Google is a great tool to get quick background information on a particular topic. I still use Google because is a convenient way to find what I need to know in a timely manner.