Googling Our Minds Away

This article caught my attention because I understand what the author is trying to say, but also because I want to defend technology. Earlier this week, I was discussing communication with my brother and he said he thought technology was destroying interaction, conversation, and communication between people. We were becoming lazier, becoming more antisocial while in person, and making us impatient. I know this is true because I have seen it and I am also guilty of this. But I still defended technology saying it helps us get information faster when we need it. I believe the same thing goes for Google.

Yes, it makes us lazier but we are able to find crucial or sometimes useless information faster. Students are able to type final papers in a matter of hours before the deadline without even having to skim the pages of a book. I don't think Google is a Bad thing. It is helping us find what we need without having to search through futile text and information to get to our final destination. The author complained that he gets bored with reading long text because he is so used to having short spurts of text with his answer/information/etc in it right then and there. Well, sorry to be so rude but I think that is his own fault. I have been using Google since I learned about the internet and I still can sit down and read a book. I can read through pages and pages because I have patience and because I have discipline. I switch between using the internet and using books to find information, too, so maybe my brain hasn't bee rewired like others' have.

Author Nicholas Carr also explains that he is looking for distractions while he skims through articles and papers online. I believe, once again, this can be caused by the lack of restraint. When I have something I need to do or read, I will turn off all other things and focus on that project and that alone. Cell phone is off, music is either soft (close to inaudible) or off and I am able to focus on the text. Of course people will look for distractions when performing tasks that aren't much fun or exciting but that should not be blamed on Google. Nor the internet in general.

This entire article made it sound like someone was trying to place the blame on someone other than ourselves for our laziness and inability to focus. Sometimes the internet and technology can help us divert our attention but it is not the scape goat. It is not technology's fault we are so bored easily. People just need to do everything in moderation- using real books instead of Googling/Binging/Yahooing (are those last two even verbs?), shutting down our power and having face-to-face interactions, and writing with pen and paper instead of hoping the computers will type our papers and thoughts themselves. Technology isn't the enemy, it's a friend. We're just trying to prosecute the wrong person/thing instead of taking the blame for our own lack of control.