300-400 word draft
Technology is a controversial issue that everyone has their opinions on. Some argue that it’s beneficial to us, some argue it is negatively impacting us, and others think it’s a mix of both good and bad. 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, Alicia Burr and Nolan Sibley, both students at The University of New England, write an essay on their complicated views of the positives and negatives of technology. Technology is very useful to us in many ways and keeps us connected. But on the other hand, it brings a lot of negatives that disconnect us. It changes the way we think.
Technology is changing our ability to think because our devices are doing it for us. Carr can see technology changing the way he thinks. He 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… 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). He makes a really good point. With all this stimulation technology provides us, we can’t focus for long anymore. Our thinking is different. That deep thinking that comes with reading is gone. Similarly, Sibley believes we are becoming dependent on artificial intelligence. He says, “With the introduction of such advanced artificial intelligence, we are becoming more and more dependent. It seems as though for any problem or question that arises in life, a simple Google search can help you to solve it” (Sibley). We don’t have to critically think anymore when we have a problem or a question. We can just type it into google and we immediately get an answer.
800 word
Technology has been advancing for years. Over the years, it has become a controversial issue that everyone has developed their opinions on. Some argue that it’s beneficial to us, some argue it is negatively impacting us, and others think it’s a mix of both good and bad. 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, Alicia Burr and Nolan Sibley, both students at The University of New England, write an essay on their complicated views of the positives and negatives of technology. Technology is very useful to us in many ways and keeps us connected. But on the other hand, it brings a lot of negatives that disconnect us. It even seems to be changing the way we think, such as when we are reading and spelling.
Technology is changing our ability to think because our devices are doing it for us. Carr can see technology changing the way he thinks. He 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… 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). He makes a really good point. With all this stimulation technology provides us, we can’t focus for long anymore. Our thinking is different. That deep thinking that comes with reading is gone. Similarly, Burr believes technology such as artificial intelligence that automatically corrects our spelling is making us worse off. She says, “Another part of technology that I have used quite frequently is spell check… Half the time I don’t even notice that it changes the word. I liked to think that this is helping but now I’m starting to believe it’s making me worse off”(Burr). We’ve become so accustomed to spell check fixing our spelling that not now we don’t even notice it. We don’t really know how to spell and we don’t need to worry about it because spell check fixes it for us. When spell check fixes a word, you don’t actually learn how to spell that word right in the future. Technology makes it so we don’t have to actually think to read or spell. Carr and Burr make very relatable arguments. I never read anything deeply, I always skim through it. I get bored after the first paragraph because I’m so used to the stimulation technology provides. I can’t think enough to read and process a whole article. I also can’t spell. No matter how many times my computer underlines the same word red, I’m still not going to know how to spell it. I don’t need to because the next time I spell it wrong my laptop will just fix it. Technology takes the thinking aspect out of reading and spelling. These are basic skills that we learn to do in Kindergarten and they are becoming harder and harder to do as technology thinks for us.
We also rely on technology to a point where it’s ruining our intelligence. Carr says, “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence” (Carr 8). We rely too heavily on technology so our authentic intelligence is turning into artificial intelligence. Similarly, Sibley also believes we are becoming dependent on artificial intelligence. He says, “With the introduction of such advanced artificial intelligence, we are becoming more and more dependent. It seems as though for any problem or question that arises in life, a simple Google search can help you to solve it” (Sibley). We don’t have to critically think anymore when we have a problem or a question. We can just type it into google and we immediately get an answer. It’s become a major problem. I’m worried about how much I have relied on technology throughout the years. Would I be smarter today if I didn’t have technology at my fingertips. I think I might be. If technology didn’t exist and I had a question, I would have to ask someone, read a book, or just figure it out myself. But I don’t have to, so I’m not developing these skills that would make me more intelligent.
Workshop draft
Technology has been advancing for years. Over the years, it has become a controversial issue that everyone has developed their opinions on. Some argue that it’s beneficial to us, some argue it is negatively impacting us, and others think it’s a mix of both good and bad. 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 argues that technology is taking away our ability to think. Similarly, Alicia Burr and Nolan Sibley, both students at The University of New England, each wrote an essay on their complicated views of the positives and negatives of technology. Burr believes technology is taking over basic human functions and Sibley believes we are becoming too reliant on it. Technology is a very useful tool to us in many ways. But on the other hand, it brings a lot of negatives. It even seems to be affecting our concentration and changing the way we think for the worst, such as when we are reading and spelling. We seem to be becoming too reliant on technology to the point where we are becoming less intelligent.
Technology is changing our ability to think because our devices are doing it for us. Carr can see technology changing the way he thinks. He’s noticing how he can’t focus and read like he once could. He 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… 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. He can’t seem to concentrate long enough to immerse himself in a book. But in the past he could do this easily. The only thing that has changed is the rise of technology. With all this stimulation technology provides us, we can’t focus for long anymore. Not only can I not focus on reading, I can’t focus on anything. I see it in myself and in the people around me. Any freetime I have is spent on my phone. If I’m not on 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 made our thinking different. That deep thinking that comes with reading is gone. 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.
It’s not just Carr who can see these devices changing our thinking. Similarly to Carr’s thoughts, Burr believes technology such as artificial intelligence that automatically corrects our spelling is making us worse off. She says, “Another part of technology that I have used quite frequently is spell check… Half the time I don’t even notice that it changes the word. I liked to think that this is helping but now I’m starting to believe it’s making me worse off”(Burr). Burr believes all this time she’s been using spell check is actually negative in the long run. We’ve become so accustomed to spell check fixing our spelling that now we don’t even notice it. We don’t really know how to spell and we don’t need to worry about it because spell check fixes it for us. When spell check fixes a word, you don’t actually learn how to spell that word right in the future. Technology makes it so we don’t have to actually think to read or spell. Carr and Burr make very relatable arguments. I never read anything deeply, I always skim through it. I get bored after the first paragraph because I’m so used to the stimulation technology provides. I can’t think enough to read and process a whole article. I also can’t spell without some sort of assistance. No matter how many times my computer underlines the same word red, I’m still not going to know how to spell it. I don’t need to because the next time I spell it wrong my laptop will just fix it for me. Technology takes the thinking aspect out of reading and spelling. These are basic skills that we learn to do in Kindergarten and they are becoming harder and harder to do as technology thinks for us.
We also rely on technology to a point where it’s ruining our intelligence. Carr believes our reliance on computers in flattening our intelligence. He says, “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence” (Carr 8). He thinks we rely too heavily on technology so our authentic intelligence is turning into artificial intelligence. We seem to think we’re so smart because we have access to all this information. But in reality it’s not actually coming from our own intelligence, we’re just repeating what the artificial intelligence told us. Similarly, Sibley also believes we are becoming dependent on artificial intelligence. He says, “With the introduction of such advanced artificial intelligence, we are becoming more and more dependent. It seems as though for any problem or question that arises in life, a simple Google search can help you to solve it” (Sibley). As Sibley notes, google and artificial intelligence solves our problems for us to a point of dependency. We don’t have to critically think anymore when we have a problem or a question. We can just type it into google and we immediately get an answer. It’s become a major problem. I’m worried about how much I have relied on technology throughout the years. Would I be smarter today if I didn’t have technology at my fingertips? I think it’s possible that I might be. If technology didn’t exist and I had a question, I would have to ask someone, read a book, or just figure it out myself. But I don’t have to, so I’m not developing these skills that would make me more intelligent.
Many people would argue that technology has many benefits. They are not wrong because it has allowed us to communicate with people all over the world. We can talk to relatives and friends from anywhere at any time. It also gives us easy and immediate access to information and news. This is especially important for safety concerns such as natural disasters that people must know to prepare for. Despite these benefits, I feel as though the negatives outweigh the positives. It’s been eating away at our authentic intelligence and I’m worried about how this will progress in the future.
Technology may be useful in some ways, but the negatives are far too prominent. As authors Carr, Sibley, and Burr all agree, it makes things easier and does the work for us. We have become more reliant on technology the more it advances and its resulting in loss of intelligence. As technology continues to advance, it worries me how this will continue to affect these skills. It’s changing the way we think and we can see in our lack of ability to read deeply, spell, and focus.
