The Dawn of extensive internet use
The dawn of extensive internet use has posed several questions to the public regarding its usage, benefits and detrimental effects. Ethical concerns about the use of the internet include the dilemma of whether it affects the intellectual capacity of users or not. Questions are raised on whether or not the use of the internet for research induces cyclic dependency on the tool and reduces the ability to engage the brain in productive ways. This paper seeks to respond to the claims asserted by Nicholas Carr in his article "Is the Internet Making us stupid."
Changes in Brain Functioning
Nicholas Carr begins by exploring the gradual changes in the brain functioning over the past years. According to him, the level of concentration has significantly decreased in different tasks ranging from practical situations to mental engagements of the brain. The article recounts the previous condition characterized by hours of concentration upon reading long texts and commentaries and compares it to the current situation where the level of concentration lasts for very short durations (Carr). He attributes the problem to the intense use of the internet and the hours spent on the internet which has been increasingly addictive recently. This includes activities such as simple research, communication, news and entertainment facilitated by internet adds. Nicholas Carr recognizes the internet as a precious resource but cites from a critical point that it costs individuals by shaping the thought process. Gradually, individuals tend to accept information from the internet as it is without rationally analyzing it before use, which rips off the ability to concentrate and contemplate.
Alteration of Traditional Reading Skills
According to Nicholas Carr, traditional reading skills and habits have gradually been altered and reduced to skimming and looking for readily available content. The article further observes that people make use of abstracts, summaries and short highlighted notes from the internet regardless of their authenticity to avoid extensive reading and critical analysis of long texts (Carr). Research states that people do not currently get transformed by whatever they read since they do not take time to internalize it. Since reading is not a natural instinctual activity as speech, reading habits are affected by what individuals read and how they read it. This is because the human brain is subject to changes even during old age. There are questions as to whether Google's artificial intelligence can be connected to the human mind to boost thinking and add a rich resource to the human brain with readily available information. However, this has raised ethical concerns since the brain is structured to develop independent of direct aids but by acquiring conditioning from the external environment (Carr).
Influence on Writing and Reading Habits
Rationally, internet use and the application of search engines for information acquisition has changed the mind functionality in different ways. This has influenced writing in other fields such as authoring of books has which has also been shaped to make reading a less engaging. Since people rely on information as it is directly presented on the internet sources, people have lost the self-confidence in generating ideas and questioning the authenticity of information retrieved from the internet. The general assumption is that internet sources are final copies of properly researched and compiled information which is not subject to change. Readers on the internet become more submissive to the content due to its appealing nature, convincing language and precise presentation.
Reduced Capacity for Concentration
Internet usage also reduces the capacity for concentration in lengthy engaging readings. The Internet is generally structured to present a variety of information upon inquiring for a single topic. Additionally, there are advertisements and attractive features on the internet that refer users to further sites which are unrelated to their intended purpose of internet use at a particular time. Due to this, internet users are often faced with confusion on which source best suits their needs. Since all sources seem convincing, readers on the internet tend to spend less time on a single site. This induces faster boredom on a single task which is further translated to other areas such as reading print media or research books.
Intellectual Vulnerability
The high dependency on the internet has dramatically made people intellectually vulnerable. The ability to sustain substantial discussions offline without referring to online sources has reduced with the widespread availability of mobile devices and cheap internet. Individuals are less concerned about saving information for later reference. The internet is used as a mere means to an end in solving instant solutions and forgetting about each element of the information. Google and other search engines have provided a platform in which users can easily present other people's ideas as their own and gain credit for such little effort. Therefore people no longer value the essence of retaining information for intellectual awareness. The effects of internet usage on concentration and intellectual authenticity get worse with time since people are currently introduced to internet dependency for research at a young age. This blocks the need to develop proper reading skills and habits at the initial stages of life.
Conclusion
Generally, it can be argued that the internet has eased various research processes and connected the world in the acquisition and dissemination of information for academic purposes. However, at the individual level, detrimental effects related to concentration and intellect are significantly affected as expressed in the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr.
Works Cited
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The Atlantic, July 2008, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/.
