Chandra's Reading Respose #2

Chandra Thompson
English 100 Section F
Reading Response #2

In Nick Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” article, I believe that his central claim is that although the Internet is quicker and easier, he questions the fact that it is impairing our ability to read lengthy books or articles. Carr quotes Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, “I was a lit major in college and used to be a voracious book reader, what happened?” Many people used to read books and enjoyed it, but with the internet today, many people have stopped reading books and started looking online for their information. Carr observes that our reading has changed from books to the internet, where we only skim what we are reading and researching. Studies done by students from University College London, show that many people would skim over one source and would move onto another source. Some people would save some sources, but there was no proof that they would ever go back and read it. Within this article, I think Carr is trying to get his readers to consider the fact that Google and Internet may be affecting our reading and writing. Carr refers to Maryanne Wolf about how she worries that the style of reading today may be putting “immediacy” before everything else and decreasing the ability for deep reading and able to connect with the book or long article.
“Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after,” Carr says about his own life. I think Carr is trying to say that research has changed because of the Internet. Now all you have to do is go on Google and type in the quote or the topic you are researching and you’ll get several hyperlinks to click on and to get the information you want and need. This claim is in the third paragraph of the article. It “fits” in with the rest of the article because it sets the tone that he is trying to show the fact that the Internet and Google has had an affect on the way we learn and read. The evidence that Carr uses for evidence is his personal experience. For me, this an important claim in the article because growing up I can only remember using mostly the internet to research things for class assignments that required research. I don’t remember reading a book for the information. This claim is important to way I understand the rest of the article because it shows me that Carr is trying to show people the affect that today’s technology has had.
I don’t deny that online reading hasn’t changed the way I read things. When I get something to read, I tend to skim over it and read the whole thing. I have to push myself in order to finish reading an article or a book that doesn’t catch my attention right away. I was never a book reader, but I’m slowly getting into it. It’s hard to get into something when it’s so much easier to get online and do other things when the opportunity is there. I agree with Carr’s statements though when he suggests that over the years with the technology the way we read has affected us.