In the article, Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet is making us less attentive and overall less intelligent, Which in his opinion is making us “dumber”. Carr’s article refers to a growing body of scientific work to prove his point.
A study conducted at Cornell University revealed that while some areas such as visual-spatial intelligence are increased by internet use, “new weaknesses in higher-order cognitive processes,” such as “abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection, inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination” are rising. In my opinion, I agree with him, having technology constantly around us results in a lot of distractions which could be simply avoided by not having it there in the first place, We are limiting ourselves and not allowing our minds to reach their maximum capacity as far as critical thinking goes simply because there is always something that is bound to throw us off. Another experiment at Stanford University’s Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab showed that the brains of those who constantly multitasked did poorly on various cognitive tests compared to those who did not multitask as much. Those users were not able to concentrate as well and were easily distracted a lot showing that the constant switching between tasks was making them weaker at both of the tasks and also less intelligent.
What it all comes down to for Carr is that reading books builds a mental discipline that is greatly valuable for our frequently distracted minds. The internet succeeds in encouraging those tendencies that lead towards distraction. Carr explains that he is concerned that the generations after us might not have the patience to draw themselves out of these tendencies or even worse, this type of behavior might be glossed over and become nothing of concern. I’m convinced that Carr is right, Anyone who spends a lot of time on the internet, using social media or any other applications can probably understand Carr’s concerns about how we have inherently become more distracted and more stressed.
So, in conclusion, I definitely think Carr’s concerns are valid and something we should take a lot more seriously.
