Robert G. Brown-Are We Really That Stupid?

There seems to be mounting concern developing in our American society regarding the internet and our inability to control its influence and power that it has gained over our everyday lives. Before the internet came along we primarily depended upon television, radio, newspapers and books as being the sources from which we obtained our knowledge. We were always at the mercy and time schedules of the broadcasting companies concerning how and when we were going to receive our information. Thanks to the invention of the programmable VCR, we could now break loose from their mandated schedules, record what we wanted and listen back at a more convenient time suited around our lifestyles, thus subduing the influence and power that they once exhibited in shaping out our lives. However, that’s not exactly the case concerning this media form called the internet.
In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” he and others alike are addressing the issues that are surmounting around the involvement and use of the internet and the effects that it is having on us as a society today. For some reason, he has chosen Google as the primary culprit for his conceived perceptions that the internet and our inabilities to control how we interact with it are Google’s fault and not our own. Some of the examples that he cites to support this viewpoint come from statements made by him and others regarding their ability to concentrate deeply while reading or that their minds are becoming reshaped by this media form that they’re using. Is there any validity to these claims? He seems to think so, however, I don’t totally agree, especially concerning claims inferring to the control that the internet is having on our ability to think for ourselves.
What is indicative of the mental fatigue being experienced by those that were surveyed, such as Scott Karp and Bruce Friedman isn’t coming from the use of the internet or being on Google but rather it is coming from the light being emitted from the monitor to the eyes and to the brain of the user. The brain has to exert more energy to compensate for this physical manipulation of light than compared to reading a book with print on paper and no light emitting from the viewed source of written material. This was one of the reasons for converting from CRT monitors to the energy saving flat panel monitors that are in current use today. Even I experience the fatigue when using a computer compared to reading an actual book, which is why I make a hardcopy printout of the material I wish to read, when I start to experience the fatigue coming on.
Google is a search engine designed to operate in conjunction with the internet, however it is not the internet itself, and it is a website or tool for deciphering the information contained on or in the internet. Though it struggles to become the dominating website for the acquisition of all of mankind’s knowledge, other sites such as Ask.Com and Bing.Com are giving Google a good run for the competition; this has been evidenced by the increased traffic to their sites.
Through the use of pop-ups and links that appear on a webpage when a user is online it is easy to become distracted. Thanks to pop-up blockers this can be avoided. My contention is that the user is in control when interacting online regardless of the claims of others and that the surfing that one does is their own prerogative in respect for their need to either “vertically” or “horizontally” accesses the content at hand. If one is supposedly becoming stupid during this process then it’s the persons fault and not the fault of Google or the internet.
When considering the title of the essay, I actually decided to do a word search on the meaning of stupid and came up with one, thanks to Bing.Com and found it to reflect a more accurate perspective of what I feel that Nicholas Carr had intended. Its fourth definition indicates “dazed: in a dazed state, e.g. from shock, fatigue, or the effects of drugs or alcohol, almost stupid with tiredness.” In this perspective I can see where Mr. Carr’s claims could come into play, but it is not the same as literally Google making someone stupid. The way in which someone uses Google could reflect stupidity but Google itself would not be responsible. Example, if I were to type in the phrase “find my dog Toto/ he’s lost/where is he? Do you really believe that Google could give you an accurate answer? If so, then I would contend that you are stupid and would recommend taking a course in logic or wisdom.
When considering the mental and economical attributes of the internet and the vast material available, I certainly would not compromise my mental stability and intelligence to the whims and likings of those only interested in making huge profits. Though the internet encourages swift and sporadic reading practices through its use of links and pop-ups and bookmarks and other gadgets designed to promote efficiency at the users’ expense, I normally don’t concede to these practices which might explain why I’m so monetarily impoverished and yet so richly and intellectually endowed. Though the internet tries to propel me into the fast lane of the information highway, I still take my leisurely time and exert all the concentrated effort needed so as to maintain a vertical perspective rather than a horizontal perspective on life and all of its lessons that it has to offer.
So, I hope as I continue to get up daily and interact with the real and artificial realms of my society that I’ll never see “pancake people” emerging from the cracks and crevasses of our planet called earth. For in the day that I do, I shall surely know that Google has finally accomplished its mission, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”