Draft 1: 400-500
Technology has become a part of our everyday lives. Many believe it’s impacting our human behavior. Nicholas Carr touches on this topic in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” He mentions how technology is taking away our ability to think. Similarly, Sherry Turkle, a doctorate holder in sociology and psychology from Harvard, also writes an essay about technology called, “The Empathy Diaries.” She explains how technology affects conversation and our capacity for empathy. Both authors agree that technology is affecting us negatively, but Carr focuses more on how it affects our intelligence and concentration, while Turkle focuses more on how it affects our conversation.
Turkle and Carr both agree that we use technology to avoid something. Carr believes the internet has chipped away at his capacity for concentration and as a result, he can no longer focus on long pieces of writing. To improve this argument, he refers to a study of online research habits, organized by scholars at the University College London. The scholars reported 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, content pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense”(Carr 3). Instead of thoughtfully reading through articles, people are just skimming through and browsing to avoid reading the whole thing. Similarly, Turkle thinks we use technology to avoid having face-to-face conversation. She explains that conversation is important for our early development, “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as were constantly connected to each other”(Turkle 344). Technology makes it easy to avoid conversation. There’s so many other ways to communicate now so we don’t have to speak face-to-face. Carr also believes technology helps to avoid, but he believes it helps to avoid reading a text, rather than to avoid conversation. I think they both make very good points and I agree that we use technology to avoid certain things. I can relate to Turkle’s point because sometimes I will text a friend who lives two doors down when I could’ve just knocked on their door. But texting is right at my fingertips and it’s much more convenient. It’s less stressful than having to go ask something in person. I also relate to Carr’s point because I rarely read full articles anymore. I skim over the headings and read some of it, but sometimes I skip over whole paragraphs. I avoid conversing and reading full articles because technology allows me to avoid it.
Draft 2: 800
Technology has become a part of our everyday lives. Many believe it’s impacting our human behavior. Nicholas Carr touches on this topic in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” He mentions how technology is taking away our ability to think. Similarly, Sherry Turkle, a doctorate holder in sociology and psychology from Harvard, also writes an essay about technology called, “The Empathy Diaries.” She explains how technology affects conversation and our capacity for empathy. Both authors agree that technology is affecting us negatively by distracting us, but Carr focuses more on how it affects our intelligence and concentration, while Turkle focuses more on how it affects our conversation.
Turkle and Carr both agree that we use technology to avoid something. Carr believes the internet has chipped away at his capacity for concentration and as a result, he can no longer focus on long pieces of writing. To improve this argument, he refers to a study of online research habits, organized by scholars at the University College London. The scholars reported 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, content pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense”(Carr 3). Instead of thoughtfully reading through articles, people are just skimming through and browsing to avoid reading the whole thing. Similarly, Turkle thinks we use technology to avoid having face-to-face conversation. She explains that conversation is important for our early development, “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as were constantly connected to each other”(Turkle 344). Technology makes it easy to avoid conversation. There’s so many other ways to communicate now so we don’t have to speak face-to-face. Carr also believes technology is used as an avoidance tool, but he believes it helps to avoid thinking and reading, rather than to avoid conversation. I think they both make very good points and I agree that we use technology to avoid certain things. I can relate to Turkle’s point because sometimes I will text a friend who lives two doors down when I could’ve just knocked on their door. But texting is right at my fingertips and it’s much more convenient. It’s less stressful than having to go ask something in person. I also relate to Carr’s point because I rarely read full articles anymore. I skim over the headings and read some of it, but sometimes I skip over whole paragraphs. I avoid conversing and reading full articles because technology allows me to avoid it.
Along with agreeing that technology is used as an avoidance tool, Turkle and Carr also agree that we can never focus on one thing and be present. Our brains are constantly stimulated so we get bored easily and can’t focus on one thing for too long. Turkle makes a point that, “We say we turn to our phones when we’re “bored.” And we often find ourselves bored because we have become accustomed to a constant feed of connection, information, and entertainment. We are forever elsewhere. At class or at church or business meetings, we pay attention to what interests us and then when it doesn’t, we look to our devices to find something that does” (Turkle 344). Because of the constant stimulation technology provides us, when our brains are not stimulated we don’t know what to do. We don’t know how to just be present with our thoughts. Relating to Turkle’s point, Carr says, “I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a 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. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle” (Carr 1). Carr can see the effect of technology on himself. We’re so used to ads and notifications that stray our attention so we never focus for long periods of time anymore. I agree with each of their points. I see it in myself and in the people around me. We have become obsessed and feel lost without the constant distraction. It’s a scary thought. We can’t focus enough to read, to listen in class, or to just sit alone in silence with our thoughts.
Draft 3
Technology has been growing for years and is now a part of our everyday lives. Many worry about how it’s impacting our human behavior. Nicholas Carr, a reputable author who has written for The New York Times, touches on this topic in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” He mentions how technology is taking away our ability to think. Similarly, Sherry Turkle, who has a doctorate in sociology and psychology from Harvard, also writes an essay about technology called, “The Empathy Diaries.” She explains how technology affects conversation and our capacity for empathy. Both authors agree that technology is affecting us negatively by distracting us, but Carr focuses more on how it affects our intelligence and concentration, while Turkle focuses more on how it affects our conversation. There’s no question that they are both worried about technology and think others should be too. Technology is used as an avoidance tool and that ‘s causing us to lose focus and lack concentration. It makes things easier for us, so that we don’t have to do the work.
Technology has become something we use to avoid things. Turkle and Carr both agree that we use technology to avoid different things. Carr believes the internet has chipped away at his capacity for concentration and as a result, he can no longer focus on long pieces of writing. To improve this argument, he refers to a study of online research habits, organized by scholars at the University College London. The scholars reported 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, content pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense”(Carr 3). Instead of thoughtfully reading through articles, people are just skimming through and browsing to avoid reading the whole thing. We still have access and the ability to read a physical book or read an article, but we choose not to. Similarly, Turkle thinks we use technology to avoid having face-to-face conversation. She explains that conversation is important for our early development, “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other”(Turkle 344). Technology makes it easy to avoid conversation. There’s so many other ways to communicate now so we don’t have to speak face-to-face. Carr also believes technology is used as an avoidance tool, but he believes it helps to avoid thinking and reading, rather than to avoid conversation. I think they both make very good points and I agree that we use technology to avoid certain things. I can relate to Turkle’s point because sometimes I will text a friend who lives two doors down when I could’ve just knocked on their door. But texting is right at my fingertips and it’s much more convenient. It’s less stressful than having to go ask something in person. I also relate to Carr’s point because I rarely read full articles anymore. I skim over the headings and read some of it, but sometimes I skip over whole paragraphs. I avoid conversing and reading full articles because technology allows me to avoid it. It’s not that we still can’t speak face-to-face or read paper books, it’s that we choose not to. Technology allows for an easier way to do things and as humans we are lazy, and we’re not going to do the extra work if we don’t have to. It’s easily accessible so of course we are going to take advantage of it.
Along with agreeing that technology is used as an avoidance tool, Turkle and Carr also agree that we can never focus on one thing and be present. Our brains are constantly stimulated by the screens in front of us, so when we don’t have those screens we get bored easily. We can’t focus on one thing for too long. Turkle makes a point that, “We say we turn to our phones when we’re “bored.” And we often find ourselves bored because we have become accustomed to a constant feed of connection, information, and entertainment. We are forever elsewhere” (Turkle 344). Because of the constant stimulation technology provides us, when our brains are not stimulated we don’t know what to do. We don’t know how to just be present with our thoughts. Relating to Turkle’s point, Carr says, “I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy… That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle” (Carr 1). Carr can see the effect of technology on himself. We’re so used to ads and notifications that stray our attention so we never focus for long periods of time anymore. I agree with each of their points. I see it in myself and in the people around me. Any freetime I have is spent on my phone. If I’m not I’m my phone I get bored and feel like I need my phone. We have become obsessed and feel lost without the constant distraction. It’s a scary thought. We can’t focus enough to read, to sit still and listen in class, or to just sit alone in silence with our thoughts.
Many people would disagree that technology is negative and see it as a positive tool. I think technology has many benefits. For example, it has allowed us to communicate with people all over the world and it gives us easy access to information and news. But, I feel as though the negatives outway the positives. It’s been eating away at our concentration more and more. I’m worried about how this will progress in the future. Carr refers to Richard Foreman who believes we will become “‘Pancake people’- spread wide and thin as we connect with the vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button”(Carr 8). He thinks that technology is taking away our deep thought causing us to be very surface level. If we use technology to think, there won’t be anything beyond basic thought. Will we become “pancake people” like Richard Foreman believes? I think this is possible but I dont think this is a guarantee. If we continue to allow technology to take over our lives and do everything for us then this might happen. But, I think many of us our conscious enough about how technology has affected us that we won’t let it get to that point.
Technology is negatively affecting the human population. It has become a tool used to avoid conversation and concentration. We struggle to converse, read, think, and focus because of it. It makes things easier and does work for us so we don’t have to do it. It may have benefits, but the negatives are far too prominent. It worries me that we are losing more and more focus as technology advances.
