Nicholas Carr, author of Is Google Making us Stupid?, is a knowledgeable writer who informs his audiences about technology and culture. Carr has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Wired along with publishing books of his own. In 2010 his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains became a New York Times bestseller and is now a modern classic used for debates on the effects technology has on ones thoughts and perceptions. In 2014, Carr published another popular book called The Glass Cage: Automation and Us. This book focuses on the social and personal consequences of depending on technology as much as society does. His most recent full novel, Utopia is Creepy, published in 2016, is a collection of his best writings, essays, and blogs from past years. Also, in 2015 Carr received the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity from the Media Ecology Association. With all this said, Carr obtained a bachelors degree from Dartmouth College and a masters degree from Harvard University in English and American Literature and Language. He used to be executive editor of Harvard Business Review early in his career. Carr has proven himself to be a very reliable source with an ample amount of knowledge dealing with previous and modern technology.
As for audience is concerned, Nicholas Carr tends to aim his writings toward current students. The information perceived in Is Google Making us Stupid? is written at a level that educated students, particularly high school and college students, can understand and relate to. Being the primary audience, Carr includes facts and opinions he knows will grab the attention of students reading. There would less of a purpose trying to reach out to older adults who are already convinced technology has ruined current generations. Carr claims, “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (Is Google Making us Stupid?). Right away this line catches the attention of young people who are being forced to read through computer screens and are experiencing the same difficulties. Being the secondary audience, adults are still able to retain valuable information from the article but in a different way. When Carr refers to a previous method of technology, such as the typewriter and stopwatch, adults may find it easier to follow his message because they are more familiar with the objects he is referring to. However, with such an understanding for technology and how human beings have adapted, Carr is able to appeal to both parties.
When it comes to to Carr’s main purpose in this specific essay he argues that although there is a new way of reading that takes away from ones “actual” intelligence and ability to comprehend what is being read, there is an overall increase in the amount of reading done due to the easy access of writings online. In the words of Maryann Wolf, “When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged” (Is Google Making us Stupid?). Wolf is stating that reading online provides less of an understanding for what is being read. Words may seem to have been read off the screen, but instead of reading to retain, there is “a form of skimming activity” (Carr, Is Google Making us Stupid?) that distracts and disengages readers. This becomes a problem when the brain begins to act “like a computer” (Carr, Is Google Making us Stupid?) and technology is depended upon. Carr does not like the idea of the Net “becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV” (Is Google Making us Stupid?). This is where the idea of “artificial intelligence” comes into play. Carr claims Google is continuing to strive to give their browsers an easy and efficient way to access information. The issue being people are no longer forced to figure out for themselves. Like Socrates predicted, the future would consist of people “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom” (Is Google Making us Stupid?).
The context of Carr’s essay varies. He uses evidence from back in 1882 up to present day studies. Discussing how “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts” (Carr, Is Google Making us Stupid?) from back when typewriters were the primary use shows how much of a development there must have been over those 150 years. If a typewriter had the ability to show how different devices have different effects on the way we interpret and see information, then that makes Carr’s argument that much stronger when stating how present day technology has taken an even bigger toll on the way we process our thoughts. Carr also uses facts from papers published in the 1900’s. Aside from throwing in “old” evidence, the article itself was written in the summer of 2008. Being 10 years ago, the information in the article is still relevant. However, there has been many new inventions and discoveries related to technology since then. But if Carr was able to prove his point with examples from the 1800’s then examples from 2008 only help his argument. His most current evidence is from a 2004 interview with Newsweek and an even more recent study on the brain from George Mason University.
This piece of writing is an essay. Carr uses an intriguing introduction that poses an example for what the rest of his essay will be be about. He uses other books, people, studies, and history to form his argument and prove his points. In Is Google Making us Stupid? Carr uses first person to make his writing more personable and relatable. Instead particular, this genre of writing appeals to the younger generation that is currently consumed in this form of reading and interpreting.