Four

In Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he starts out from a personal perspective, explaining how the Internet has had an effect on his own mind. He has noticed that he cannot focus as well on long readings as he used to. He finds himself skimming over things if they appear too long and he finds himself not being able to pay attention to something if it is taking too long to read. He then explains how it is not only himself that is going through these changes. His peers, many of them also in the literary business, are also going through this problem. He discusses how there have also been studies, showing that this is a general trend throughout the world. People are getting more impatient when it comes to reading, tending to skim more than actually read. People go through sources much more quickly than they used to because they have the access to and also because that is increasingly how people’s minds are starting to work. Instead of going through sources in depth, they skim and attempt to get the main points in that way. I think Carr’s answer to the question is that Google is making us more stupid. He discusses the idea of artificial intelligence, which is kind of a scary term. I also found his point about losing silence interesting because it is true that we are losing that in our world today. People are constantly doing things and not taking time to just think and reflect on things in their own way. In Hedge’s article, he is extremely critical of the American public and their lack of literacy. He separates the American public into two groups, those who are traditionally literate and those who are not literate at all. He points out that even those who are technically literate, are not too well educated and cannot read all that well. He uses politics as the main example of illiteracy in the world today, which is a good example because it is so prevalent. It was really interesting seeing the statistics about the debates and the speaking level of the candidates and that was also kind of frightening because they are supposed to be some of the best speakers in the country. It is interesting how he pairs literacy with being realistic and illiteracy with the idea of fantasy and false hope. Carr and Hedges both clearly see the negative effects of the Internet and increases in technology and they both fear what will happen in the future if the country continues at this rate of Internet and technology use.