Free choice: So I was thinking….

Posted on February 20, 2012 by jeremy.durbin

Who better to argue against the internet than Carr? The internet destroys the traditional book. The book is disapearing due to the fact people read short summaries or articles on the internet. The internet is shutting down books stores everyday.

So I start to think. Who better to fight and turn people against the internet than an author like Carr. Carr writes books and a growing population turning against the internet would probably increase his sales in books. Like every conterversial topic there are two sides. I feel the authors of the world of course are resentful of the rise of the interent and how it has destroyed the humans will to read long passages.

I am not saying Carr’s book is biased, because he includes facts within his argument. But for everything he says it does not apply to all. The idea of telling someone that the internet is bad because you can learn just as much information in a short time rather than reading a book for 4 days is just selfish. No matter what positives the internet might bring I doubt we will see them raised in this book anywhere.

CARR- ” DOWN WITH THE INTERNET”

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Memory

Posted on February 20, 2012 by tszching.ng

When I was reading chapter 9 of Carr’s book, the phase “I agree” kept popping up in my head because the things he said are actually happening on me. Carr used other people’s example to bring up the issue between memory and the Internet, it is a really common problem now. Since the internet has everything now, why would people still need to memorize stuff? “I’ve almost given up making an effort to remember anything because I can  instantly retrieve the information online” (180), “Memory should now function like a simple index, pointing us to places on the Web where we can locate the information we need at the moment we need it” (181). When I read these two lines, the first thing came up in my mind was that this is what happening nowdays. Carr was trying to say that people do not remember the content of something anymore, but instead, people remember where to find the information online.

When I was reading chapter 9 of Carr’s book, the phase “I agree” kept popping up in my head because the things he said are actually happening on me. Carr used other people’s example to bring up the issue between memory and the Internet, it is a really common problem now. Since the internet has everything now, why would people still need to memorize stuff? “I’ve almost given up making an effort to remember anything because I can  instantly retrieve the information online” (180), “Memory should now function like a simple index, pointing us to places on the Web where we can locate the information we need at the moment we need it” (181). When I read these two lines, the first thing came up in my mind was that this is what happening nowdays. Carr was trying to say that people do not remember the content of something anymore, but instead, people remember where to find the information online.

Posted in Reading Log | Comments Off on Memory

Papers, Papers and technology

Posted on February 20, 2012 by leyda taveras

     Last class I recall we were talking about how Nicholas Carr attracts the readers in The Shallows.  The different techniques that authors use to make the reader feel like he/she is reading a proven fact. Many people might question how has technology has affected us? Well it has. Ever though about what is the difference between writing a paper by hand and writing it on Microsoft word.  From personal experience, my first semester at Baruch was the most difficult time of my life. First time of my life I had to write a 15-page paper. I didn’t know any techniques any strategies to make a great paper. Of course I was extremely scared to use the Internet due to plagiarism. When I finally decided to start I went online, my entire paper was a mess and so on. Sitting with a blank, no lines piece of white “paper”. Its not even a white piece of paper, what it is, is a blank document.

   Maybe it’s that technology has shape the way we usually do things. For example with writing papers. It is something I think I am never going to get use to. Due to the fact that I am not the best writer, it is more difficult for me than for anyone else. I rather take out a thesaurus and a dictionary, it does take more of your time but I honestly believe it is all worth it. Is it that I am stuck in the old times ?

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Brain Fart

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Elizabeth Lee

What’s the difference between the memory of the human brain and the computer? How we store memory is different from how computers and technology store. Before we had any technology or even writing, humans had to memorize with their own minds using every part of their brain capacity. Now we are dependent on our iPhones to remind us when to do our homework and use our Blackberrys to remind us of our daily schedules. Our brains have become so weak and forgetful. Often times, I forget special dates and conversations that I had with my friends.

How would our brains look like if we had to memorize every phone number that are in our phones? We would have a stronger memory capacity. We would also think more critically since as students, we would remember what we learned in class. Nicholas Carr, quotes Kobi Rosenblum who says, “The process of the long-term memory creation in the human brain…is one of the incredible processes which is so clearly different than ‘artificial brains’ like those in a computer” (191). The artificial brains causes us to be dependent on other things to be our memory. We, therefore, lose the ability to store in memory for a long period of time.

My definition of a brain fart is an explosion of intellect. It’s when we are unable to recall the memory that we memorized in a hurry. Due to the lack of sleep or being exhausted,  our brains loses its capability to remember what we want to remember. This is one result of the use of technology. Since we are too dependent on the Internet and our smart phones, our brains cannot handle the massive load of memory that we are to remember.

Posted in Free Choice | 1 Comment

I want a book!

Posted on February 20, 2012 by jc127929

Honestly, who can hate a good story? A good story can keep use entertained, engaged and help our mind flow smoothly. It can also give us a good laugh once in a while. How a story is presented varies and there are various ways. My favorite way is to read a book, old fashion, but joyful. One the things I want to have in my “future home” is a home library filled with various books from different parts of the world. When I told my high school English teacher this he advised me to start collecting as much book as possible, and I his advice. But as of now, I only own ten books, a slow progress that I keep delaying until the near future.

What if everything that was printed didn’t exist anymore. A world without magazines, books, manuals, newspaper, maps, pamphlets, etc. Instead, all of these are replaced by our good old friend the internet. I’ll admit, the internet is the quickest way to find information about anything, and the website SparkNotes should be familiar with a lot of high school students and, again, I’ll admit, I use SparkNotes once on the book Lord of The Flies during high school, in which, at the time, a book I wasn’t fond of.  I would always be the one to lag behind in the conversation about the book in class because I would be the one who didn’t really understand the book. Eventually, I lagged behind even further until I couldn’t understand what was being discussed.

After being fed up of not understand what was going on in class, I give in and read the book. To my surprise, I fell in love with it quickly. Afterwards, I started reading more books, eventually acquiring a taste for Hemingway books, in which I currently own three. Some people in my generation don’t read books, and to be honest, I sometime feel they’re missing out. To me, reading a book that interests you is good because it could help clear your mind and allows you to focus on what you reading. The internet is good place to find old books, Google Books has been helpful for me with this, but nothing can beat the feeling of holding a book in your hands and feel the pages every time you turn them.

Take some time off to read a book, I promise it won’t kill.

Posted in Free Choice | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Memory

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Mimi Lau

This week’s blog I chose to do it on Nicholas Carr chapter 9 of the book What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains The Shallows. As I was reading this chapter, there were many things that I had agreed with what Carr had to say about how technology affects our internal memory. “Rather than memorize information, we now store it digitally and just remember what we stored. (181)” I agree with this because I do this myself. Back then in high school, I would either remember what I need to do for the day in my head or write down a to-do-list in my planner to remind me. Now I would just type down everything I need to do for the day on a sticky note in my phone. Whenever I forget to do something, I would just take out my phone to look at my list without even trying to remember what I was supposed to do with my own memory. Sometimes I feel that my memory has become more and more forgetful over time because I can’t seem to remember what I need to do without looking at my phone.  This shows how technology has a negative affect against my memory. Though my phone helps me remember what I need to do, I wouldn’t be able to remember it myself.

“The Net quickly came to be seen as a replacement for, rather than just a supplement to, personal memory. Today, people routinely talk about artificial memory as though it’s indistinguishable from biological memory. (180)” I believe that this is true because not only has the Net replaced our personal memory, but technology has as well. In my opinion, the reason why the Net and technology has made humans to begin losing their concentration, memory, attention, imagination, ideas, and etc is because technology is making everything for humans much more simple. It allows humans to do less work which leads to laziness and many other factors. Because the Net has become so useful and important to humans, we begin to depend on it. Where once we begin depending on it, there’s no turning back. The Net and technology makes our lives so much easier, which is why many people use it.

Posted in Reading Log | Tagged | Comments Off on Memory

Personal v. Impersonal

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Anna Mai

My friend recently acquired over one hundred e-books from another friend and offered to pass some of them another group of friends. A list was given and I skimmed through this list and made mental notes on which books I wanted but as I got to the third mental note, I realized something. Coming across some of these titles, I pictured myself curled on a couch, reading a paperback book in front of a fireplace. A paperback book. I couldn’t picture myself curled up with a Kindle or some sort of e-book reader.

In an age where technology is quickly advancing, I still prefer to have a physical book in front of me. Nicholas Carr introduces noted testimonials of “convenience” and “ease” regarding these e-readers and I thought I sided with them, but apparently not. I am a technologically-sound person; I am always on my iPhone or on my laptop. I found it strange that my first thought was of me with a book, but I guess our brains are just too used to associating “reading” with physical books. A book is better enjoyed when I am able to turn the physical pages with my own fingers because it adds a more personal feel to the act of reading. Flipping a page requires more physical exertion than scrolling a trackpad (the act of scrolling is now requiring less and less energy-we went from clicking and dragging a bar on the side of a page to lightly swiping two fingers on a trackpad).

This impersonal feeling makes it harder for me to read something. When reading something on the internet, there are too many distractions: too many links to click, too many tabs with sites open. When reading on an e-book reader, there are also too many distractions: the e-book simply holds too many books in one device! Too many choices for one to make. A book on the other hand, contains less distractions. It is only you and the book you hold in your hand. There may be the occasional scribble of the pen in your hand noting down an important/interesting sentence but other than that, I believe that there are minimal distractions.

Bottom line: book wins!

Posted in Free Choice | Comments Off on Personal v. Impersonal

Free Choice

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Randolph Chen

For this blogpost, I feel like writing about something I have just been thinking about just an hour ago or so. At first, I was in the living room watching NBA on my recently purchased Sony Bravia while my parents were downstairs playing ping pong. I decided to just go downstairs and watch NBA there while waiting for my mom to finish playing so I can play against my dad. As I began watching  tv downstairs, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, the quality on this tv is significantly worse than the one i have upstairs and I used to think it was really good on a high definition channel.’ The sad thing is, this tv costed more than two times the price of the one on my first floor, which is clearly better, because I believe it was purchased when hdtvs first came out.

As I glanced around my basement, I realized so many old things that were once really expensive, but now are worthless and undesirable. The old PS2 that I was once addicted to was just sitting on the floor collecting dust. My first computer that was quite expensive was also just lying on the floor. A bunch of other old things such as keyboards and monitors were just in my basement untouched. This made me think about how much money has been wasted to buy things we do not even use for long because upgraded versions will always come out sooner or later.

Technology is constantly evolving and it does not look like it will slow down any time soon. We must learn to make smart purchases on things that can last us a while. Do not always buy something as soon as it comes out because that’s when it’s most expensive and there might be a new one coming out soon! Some of you may think this is common sense, yet it is still hard to restrain ourselves sometimes.

Posted in Free Choice | 1 Comment

Reading Log. Chapter 8.

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Amy Zeng

The internet has really impacted our lives and is our way of making things much easier for us. Using the internet has made the times where technology was never invented, difficult. We no longer use our primary sources to do things, instead we take the easy way out and accomplish things much faster by relying on machines.  I will focus on Chapter 8 of The Shallows by Nicholas Carr and how it contained various arguments in which I found very interesting.

Fredrick Winslow Taylor who have conducted many experiments declares ” In the past the man has been first, in the future the system has been first.” (pg 150) I found this quote to be very interesting because he describes how the transition has become and how society has become. What society use to be was everything man made, now that technology has developed more skillfully, there is no need for man made objects if we have things like machines to get things done quick.

Google as a matter of fact is my favorite search engine. I use Google for my projects and when it is needed to do research. The quote that surprised me the most was “Google’s profits are tied directly to the velocity of people’s information intake, the faster we surf across the surface of the Web, the more links we click and pages we view, the more opportunities that Google gets to feed us advertisements.” (pg 156) I never thought of Google in that way. The whole quote applies to me. Usually when I do research using Google, there would be various annoying popups all the time and I wasn’t really aware of what kinds of stuff people get captivated by. I’m amazed how Google makes money just by that. Even though, I am a long time Google user, it is still shocking how by one click away and having an advertisement pop up, the person on the computer may end up buying the products that are advertised.

Posted in Reading Log | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Reading Log

Posted on February 19, 2012 by james.selig

For this reading log, I’d like to focus on Chapter 6 of The Shallows. I thought the anecdotes on pages 102-103 about how people felt after first reading on a Kindle were especially intriguing. On 103, Steven Johnson states “I fear that one of the great joys of reading–the total immersion in another world, or in the world of the author’s ideas–will be compromised. We all may read books the way we increasingly read magazines and newspapers: a little bit here, a little bit there.”

Johnson’s words raised a few questions for me: 1) why will digital readers cause the “total immersion in another world” be to be compromised? This argument seems to come up quite often in The Shallows, and I just don’t get it. I think Johnson and Carr are trying to imply that modern technologies will eventually start restraining our imaginations, and I simply don’t agree with this. In fact, I think the Kindle and technology in general make our imaginations much more vivid. A good example of this is with cartoons and animated movies. If you watch a Disney movie like Dumbo (which was made long before computers were around) and compare it with a modern animated movie such as Monsters Inc., you will see just how much technology has broadened our imaginations. Dumbo and Monsters Inc. can’t be compared, and Monsters Inc. is a testament to what technology and the human imagination can accomplish when they work in harmony.

The second question that Johnson raised for me is this: what’s so inherently wrong with reading “a little bit here, a little bit there?” If you sit down and read a chemistry textbook from cover to cover without skipping a word, you will probably become a chemistry expert when you’re done. However, what’s the point of devoting all your time and effort to becoming a chemistry expert if you know absolutely nothing about history or English? When it comes to knowledge and learning, I feel the most prudent thing to do is avoid putting all your eggs in one basket.

Finally, Chapters 8 & 9 of The Shallows have caused me to wonder what our generation’s offspring will be like. When people my age start having children ten or so years down the road, how will technology impact their lives? My little brother is one year old, and he already knows how to tap his fingers on my iPhone to make it call someone. When I was one, iPhones weren’t even around. The future in terms of technology and the Internet seems very bright, but Carr’s book has got me thinking about whether or not technology will eventually become too big a part of our lives.

Posted in Reading Log | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Reading Log