Not Stupid, Just Lazy

After reading both articles, I came to the conclusion that Google is not necessarily making us more stupid, but it simply making us lazier. In the "Is Google Making Us Stupid Article," by Nicholas Carr he mentions that in this day in age, information is simply at our fingertips. It is true we no longer turn to books to seek information but why would we if we can find the same exact information online. Just because millennials would rather spend their time researching an assignment online as opposed to reading it in a book, does not mean they aren't absorbing the same amount of information. Technology is always going to continue to advance, so instead of living in the past and speaking of what we use to be able to learn, we should be reading more articles about how outstanding techonolgy truly is. People used to spend hours looking through textbooks to find one line of information and the fact that we can Google to answer any question, is remarkable. As long as the internet is being used in the correct way, to read the news, learn new words, and read articles it can only enhance our knowledge.Therefore, Google is not making us more stupid, but just giving us the opportunity to access information much quicker than before.

Survival of the Fittest or just not that fit at all?

After reading the two articles, it is clearly evident that us millennials are consumed by technology as a whole. Quite frankly, I believe we as people are now unable to truly survive without it and have lost the "raw" knowledge that civilization once had, prior to the internet. For example, If I seek an answer to a question I may have, I would not go to the library and find the answer myself in a book, utilizing every single ounce of gray matter in my brain. No, of course not, I would not do this. I would search it on Google! Why not, this is what we as a society has become. I am not shaming this, however, where has our basic understanding of knowledge and life itself gone? It has been handed over to technology, the ease of access at our fingertips, why do anything the "old" way ever again? In part to this, I believe we have become lackadaisical. Our minds rely heavily on technology, however this is what we are accustomed to, it is inevitable. It has been constantly around us since we were toddlers and has been growing exponentially ever since. Essence and depth of face-to-face conversation has been eliminated, there are issues more prevalent than ever such as social anxiety, and society can't simply function correctly without their faces buried in a smart phone or social media . Has technology proved to be productive or counterproductive?

The internet becoming a way of life; good or bad?

I think as a teenager growing up in this time period, it is safe to say that our generation is obsessed with technology outlets, and even rely on them (sadly).  We have all the information we could ever dream of, at our fingertips or located on our desktops.  I think this could have a negative impact, due to the fact that if we are unaware of something, or do not know what something is or what something means, we rely on the internet to tell us, and think, "Oh, I can just look that up on google, and google will tell me everything I need to know about such subject."  That being said, I think that is not a positive way to think, and the desire to learn new information on our own, without getting the information digitally is dwindling.  However, once our media outlets die, or are taken from us, the fact that we will not know where to obtain information is scary.
It is important to put the phone or tablet down every once in awhile and live life, and actually engage in conversation with others, instead of from behind a lit up triangular screen.

Is there such thing as TO MUCH access?

After reading both articles on the impact of the internet and what is doing to our brains, I believe that if the users, mainly the youth were using it in the right ways there would be less of a negative impact on our brains and development. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Like both articles mention, the access that we now have to the internet every second of our everyday lives is making a huge impact on how much we are allowing our brains to work and grow. Although one may argue that you can read on your cell phone just as much as you can read from a book, studies have shown that this is not the right mentality. Studies at UCLA have shown that some brains are highly more simulated while surfing the web then when they are reading a book. The problem with this is that when you then go to read a book, your brain does not process the information the same as it would before you had become to attracted to the internet. In the article, "Is google making us stupid?" the writer expresses "My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading." He is fully aware that his brain is changing as his interest and interaction with the internet increases. Truthfully, I feel that there was a time were it was possible for there to be a world where the internet is used as a way to strictly increase our knowledge and brain strength, but now believe that where we are  as a society  is almost unfixable when it comes to letting the internet take over our brains. 

A millennial's view

After reading both of the articles, I definitely agree with some of the points, but not to the extent that "google is making us stupid." I totally agree that the number of times as well as the duration we (millennials) use the internet effects our thought process and attention span. At the same time, we have also experienced a childhood that was not very technologically advanced in comparion to nowadays. I can vouch to say that I have a shorter attention span when it comes to concentrating in school today, than I did in elementary school. I believe it's because I didn't have a phone with constant internet connection and I rarely needed to use a computer so I didn't have a person laptop.

That being said, it's extremely important to designate time "offline" and engage in the present with real interactions, real people, and new experiences.