Midterm Practice #4

       Is the way we read and process information altered because of the internet?But we never stop to think, could it be making us dumb  According to Nicholas Carr's "Is Goggle Making Us Stupid?" it supports the idea that the internet is affecting our mind in a negative way. In contrast, "I Think, Therefore I am Still Me" by Irene Pepperberg and "Not at all" by Steven Pinker they stress that the internet hasn’t caused them the same problems. I disagree that the internet is damaging our memories and reading habits.

         First of all, Nicholas Carr's "Is Goggle Making Us Stupid?" the author states "I am not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it strongly when I'm reading. Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I'd spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That's rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages" (Carr 19).

           Many people disagree with Carr’s argument like Irene Pepperberg. She states "Maybe the internet has given me more things to think about, but that doesn't fundamentally change the way I think" (Pepperberg 28).

           Another writer who disagrees with Carr is Steven Pinker. He states "… widely rumored are the students who cannot write a paper without instant-message abbreviations, emotions, and dubious Web citations. But students indulge in such laziness to the extent that their teacher let them get away with it” (Pinker 30).

            In conclusion, I disagree that the internet is damaging our memories and attention spans. The internet cannot make anyone stupid if anything it is helping people obtain information about something they may be interested in or need to know about. As you can tell from Irene Pepperberg and Steve Pinkers arguments they disagree that the internet is doing us harm they think it is helping us improve our lives. This argument is very debatable and many people are influenced by the environment around us. I don’t think the internet will harm us in any way just make us better