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Response to "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Last Thursday, I had my first class in Introduction to Media Studies. It sounds like it's going to be a great year. Some of the things we're going to learn about are magazines, comics, TV, radio, internet, computer games, CNN, Facebook, Flickr, The Daily Show, Wikipedia, Youtube, etc. Plus, we don't have to buy an expensive textbook. Most of our readings will be online. The only book we have to buy is George Orwell's 1984, which happens to be one of my favorite books. I've read it a couple of times already, but each time I read it, I learned something new. Reading it from a Media Studies perspective sounds really exciting.

Anyway, according to the class syllabus, we are "required to purchase, make, or barter for a bound journal." In this journal, we are supposed to take notes and write our reactions to certain online articles that are assigned. One of the first ones we were assigned is Nicholas Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" It is about how the internet culture of fast and efficient information has changed the way people think and learn. It's actually a pretty interesting article.

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So here's my journal response (CAUTION: this response may be a little longer than you're used to reading...if you read Carr's article, you'll smile and get what I mean):

I have yet to watch Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, I did see the new Disney-Pixar film, Wall-E. As I read Nicholas Carr's article, I kept thinking about how Carr's argument supports one of the main themes of Wall-E: the potentially destructive effects of technology on the human mind. In Wall-E, set 700 years in the future, humans have basically polluted Earth so badly that it can no longer sustain life. Humans then boarded a space craft for a "five-year vacation" that lasted 700 years.

Humans planned on living on the space craft for a few years while Wall-E Robots cleaned up Earth. Humans lived on the space craft, hovering in flying recliner chairs with a computer screen constantly in their faces. The result was a population fo overweight, uneducated, flying couch potatoes who had no desire for knowledge or self-awarenesss. Humans became apathetic creatures, completely dependent on machines. Robots served humans in every way. Humams made themselves helpless. As a result, tobots became more human than the humans themselves. Robots exhibited moreemotion and personality than the humans, who became more like robots, devoid of emotion and abstract thought.

While this is an extreme worst-case scenario, it is impossible to ignore the alarming reality that we, as a human race, are heading in that direction. AS Carr confessed how the convenience of the internet has affected his thought processes, I realized how it has affected mine as well. Admittedly, as soon as I looked up Carr's article, the first thing I did was scroll down ot see how long it was. Indeed, it initially appeared longer than most articles I'm used to reading. Furthermore, I found myself Googling words I didn't know and allusions I didn't understand as I was reading Carr's article. AS I searched certain allusions such as "Luddites" on Wikipedia, I noticed how I would only read the first few sentences of the description. With word definitions and encylopedia references only one click away, I have ocnditioned myself to expect information in a fast and efficient manner.

Another thing I noticed was how I seemed to value speed and efficiency over accuracy. AS I was writing the past two sentences, I began to see how my mind haas adapted to the internet-convenient way of life. How reliable is Wikipedia? How accurate is the info? The first thing I learned in high school journalism is to check my sources. Although I don't use Wikipedia as a resource for school assignments, I do use it as a personal tool in everyday life.

As the realization dawns on me that everything from my concentration span to my attitude towards attaining knowledge is afffected by the internet culture, I am tempted to feel afradi and ashamed of what I have allowed myself to become. However, I cannot dwell in fear or shame. Just realizing how much the internet culture has affected me, gives me the responsibility to take charge of my own mind. I must make a conscious effort to monitor what I learn and how I learn it. Hoarding information is not the same as pursuing knowledge. Anyone with a coputer can Google almost any term or idea in the world. However, it requires a conscous effort and desire to pursue truth and a good education. I tis not enough to collect snippets of quickly-obtained facts. It is important to desire truth, complexity and depth in what we choose to learn.

What gives me hope in the idst of all the worst-case scenarios of people turning into minless machines is taht we have a choice. Once we are given the opportunity to realize that we should be in control of our own minds, we can choose to be proactive in our pursuit of knowledge. We can consciously monitor what we believe and what we don't believe.

Carr emphasizes how the modern media system bombards us constantly with advertising and information. Hopefully, once we realize that we have the power to protect our minds from junk, we can do so. We can use the internet and other media as tools to work for us, and not the other way around. So bravo, Mr. Carr! Thanks for saying what we desperately need to hear.

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