Nicholas Carr’s thesis in Is Google Making Us Stupid? is that the volume of information that we are exposed to in short amounts of time on the web, has changed the way people read and process and absorb information. People prefer expediency to the long drawn out process of reading through page after page of narrative. He explains this using several examples of how the mind has changed through the development of technologies like the ticking clock, but the point he is really making is that our attention spans are much shorter now that we can access the information we deem necessary at such a rapid rate with the internet.
He argues that Google’s endgame, a world where people no longer utilize their own intellectual contemplations but rather a constant and never ending search for information, will change human thought in a way that should worry us all. It will turn our concept of the human brain from what it is now, to just an “outdated computer than needs a faster processor and bigger hard drive.”
His concerns are legitimate and his argument is well crafted. There does appear to be a change in our view of human intellect. He references Socrates’ fear that people would no long utilize memory, but rather become dependent on the written word to provide them with the information they needed, when they needed it. Information on demand, if you will. This is what the internet has enabled, for better or worse. Is there a need to retain large amounts of information when the answer can be found in a few seconds with a Google search? After all, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, is credited with saying “never memorize what you can look up in books.”
While I appreciate Carr’s argument and understand his concern, I believe the worry is unwarranted. What the internet and its predecessors such as the printing press and written word have done is increased human efficiency. Any argument that that these developments have been counterproductive to human development fails to acknowledge the progress made since their invention. There’s no denying that human life has become better since the access to information has increased. Were people not machines when they served no purpose but to get up in the morning and work the fields without being exposed to any additional information than what is necessary to survive?
I’m of the thought that technology, and the internet, is far more likely to propel people to even higher levels than we are at present. Carr’s statement that “our data-stoked minds will bring a golden age of intellectual discovery and universal wisdom” is far closer to what will actually happen as the internet further penetrates our lives and intellectual process.
While I disagree with Carr that greater and faster information access is a bad thing, there is a problem with this that needs to be remedied. There are vast amounts of information on the internet that is inaccurate. The internet has allowed anyone with a connection to pose as experts and present information on any subject imaginable as though it were fact. While our access to information has grown exponentially, a large portion of that information is inaccurate or subjective in nature.
Internet browsers look for a quick answer to a question often plug said question into Google and end up on a Wikipedia page or Google answers page where the credibility of the person providing the information is unknown. Whether it be the death of a celebrity who is actually still living, or the birthplace of the president, the internet has allowed false information or the opinion of a person without necessary expertise to be treated and interpreted as fact. This should be the number one concern about the information overload provided by the internet, not that more information is somehow counterproductive to human progress.
Sources:
Carr, N. (2008, July/August). Is Google Making Us Stupid? Retrieved March 2011, from The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/
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