Google gets all the blame. Sadly we revert to, “yeah I’ll just google it” and bam; the answer is right in front of your face. Unfortunately, Google has taken over the world of search engines and more so fast, readily available answers. Yahoo, Bing, ask Jeeves (rest in peace) have all been out numbered by Google but the cream of the crop and the ultimate dying resource: books and scholarly articles. Although the Internet now supplies the world with these resources, I do not think that people are using them to their full potential. When I sit down to start a research paper, I reach for a book instead of going on to the Internet because I feel as though I pay much more attention to the readings when they are in my hand rather than on a screen. In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he brings up many points backing my choice to read a book instead of an e-book. In the article he interviewed Bruce Friedman who is a constant blogger about computers and medicine. Bruce says, “’I can’t read War and Peace anymore,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.’” I do not know about you, but I completely agree with this statement. It is so much harder to read an online article that is longer than a couple of paragraphs than to read the same article on paper. http://www.velocityns.com/hs-fs/hub/106445/file-413729279-png/Blog_Images/Baby.Computer.Confused.png On a computer screen there are so many distractions whether that be YouTube, Facebook, or any other app or website that is easily accessible. Scholars from University College London published a study of online research habits and conducted that, “It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users ‘power browse’ horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.” I also agree 100% with this statement as well because people (especially college and high school students) cheat themselves by telling themselves that they have ‘read the required reading’ but in reality they cannot even recall the main character’s name or the purpose of the article. I have to admit that I am a victim of ‘power browsing’ simply because it is so much easier than actually reading the article online because I lie to myself and say that I understand what I just read. On the other hand, Steven Johnson argues Nicholas Carr’s argument with this brief segment at the end of his article that agrees with Carr but also provides his own insight on the problem which shows the pros AND cons of online text.
All things considered, online text can be very intimidating and distracting. However, we have been reading more (regardless of how much we have actually absorbed from whatever we are reading), we have been writing more, and we have actually gotten smarter as a generation. Growing up with an ever-adapting technological world, I must say that we have to embrace this change and, as my kindergarten teacher would say, “just go with the flow.”
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Author: Liam Hye"'I'm kind of a big deal' -Ron Burgundy" -Liam Hye Archives
April 2016
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