“The Juggler’s Brain”, a chapter of the book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, centers around the theme that the Internet is a danger to critical thinking and academia. “In reading online…we sacrifice the facility that makes deep reading possible,” Carr quotes. “Our ability to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction remains largely disengaged.” He goes on to say that Internet users do not completely read the text on a Web page; they scan it in an “F” pattern, only reading approximately 18 percent of the content on a page. Through all the studies he reports, Carr is trying to get one central message across: by using the Internet, we are endangering all intellects
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All students listened to the same lecture, but one group was allowed to surf the Web while the second group had to keep their laptops shut. After the lecture, all students took a test over the content of that lecture. The researchers reported that the students who surfed the Web “performed significantly poorer on immediate measures of memory for the to-be-learned content.” It is true that trying to multitask while browsing the Internet is sure to have a poor outcome; however, most academically-driven students are already aware of this. Taking away access to those students’ laptops may not force them to pay attention: they could doodle in their notes, fall asleep, or simply not listen. I did not realize how much browsing the Web interfered with learning: that was eye-opening for me. However, the Internet is a proven distraction, and those not wanting to be distracted will not open up their laptops while listening to a …show more content…
It also turns us into lab rats constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets of social or intellectual nourishment.” I would have to disagree with the latter statement: the Internet is not turning us into lab rats. Our world is progressing forward with technology. Laptops are nearly a requirement for modern classrooms, text messaging is a primary form of communication, and shopping is being done online more and more. We are not becoming lab rats; we are advancing toward a more efficient future. Conversations no longer have to wait until that person is seen again: send a quick text and get a response within minutes. If an item is not available at a store nearby, simply purchase it from Amazon.com. The Internet provides a myriad of options that were not available twenty years ago. That type of advancement does indeed rewire our brains, but our brains in the year 1990 were different than they were in the 1970s. Major technological advances such as the CD player were never seen as a threat – why is the Internet portrayed with such a negative connotation? The Internet has changed our world in many ways, but it may not be as bad as we tend to
All students listened to the same lecture, but one group was allowed to surf the Web while the second group had to keep their laptops shut. After the lecture, all students took a test over the content of that lecture. The researchers reported that the students who surfed the Web “performed significantly poorer on immediate measures of memory for the to-be-learned content.” It is true that trying to multitask while browsing the Internet is sure to have a poor outcome; however, most academically-driven students are already aware of this. Taking away access to those students’ laptops may not force them to pay attention: they could doodle in their notes, fall asleep, or simply not listen. I did not realize how much browsing the Web interfered with learning: that was eye-opening for me. However, the Internet is a proven distraction, and those not wanting to be distracted will not open up their laptops while listening to a …show more content…
It also turns us into lab rats constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets of social or intellectual nourishment.” I would have to disagree with the latter statement: the Internet is not turning us into lab rats. Our world is progressing forward with technology. Laptops are nearly a requirement for modern classrooms, text messaging is a primary form of communication, and shopping is being done online more and more. We are not becoming lab rats; we are advancing toward a more efficient future. Conversations no longer have to wait until that person is seen again: send a quick text and get a response within minutes. If an item is not available at a store nearby, simply purchase it from Amazon.com. The Internet provides a myriad of options that were not available twenty years ago. That type of advancement does indeed rewire our brains, but our brains in the year 1990 were different than they were in the 1970s. Major technological advances such as the CD player were never seen as a threat – why is the Internet portrayed with such a negative connotation? The Internet has changed our world in many ways, but it may not be as bad as we tend to