Pay Attention! Or, what is our brain on the Internet?

Techonology has taken over our lives! We dont make phone calls anymore, we either text, IM, email, facebook one another and many other ways of communications. Not only have our social lives beendominated by technology but also school work, such as typing papers, researching through Google search, we “don’t” need libraries no more if technology keeps advancing as it is every year. Now technology has it pros but of course the cons are the one that we must look at. For example, we do work on the computer, ipad, iphone, etc it takes seconds for us just to be unfocused on work and roam elsewhere, surfing the web or facebooking. Its something that sometimes we cant control although one may argue that oneself can. Yet technology has become so powerful that it has eventually, i say this sarcasticlly, “brainwashed our brains.” it tkaes dedication, hahaha, to get out of this unfocusness to focus on one subject such as work but we may not have the will. It’ll be the day where nothing else matters but technology in our life more than it already is.

      The internet has a great impact on its users and their lives. Thanks to the internet the way we communicate with each other is easier and faster. On the other hand its made it different from the past. For example we went from meeting people in person and introducing ourselves to sending a friend request and approving people. Also texting, instant messaging, or e-mailing is used more then talking over the phone.

      I remember the times when I was in middle school and had to use the house phone to talk to friends because i didnt have a cellphone. I probably used the phone about three times a day the most to have small or long talks, but then had to stop because someone else had to use it. Now in days im texting constantly and always have my phone in sight or near by. Its like the faster and easier the internet makes stuff for us, the more we want to do those things.

The internet has immensely affects us, our thoughts, and our day to day activities. In modern times, we all depend on our smart phones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets for our news, weather, games, shopping and more. I still remember the time I got my first computer. It was during 1998 when my sister was born.  It had windows 98. It was a pentium 2 processor with only 256 mb of ram and 11 gig hard drive. It’s cost was around $4000 and was bought from sears. Even though I had it, I still watched tv and talked to people in person and used a game console. I listened to music on the radio and hung out with friends.

When I looked at it now, we dont’ call people to make plans. Some of us just create an event on Facebook or create a hangout session on Google+. We all download music. The radio isn’t as popular as it used to be. Everyone has a piece of modern technology, whether it may be an iPod, iPhone, or android-based smartphone. We get a notification when the weather changes or if we win an auction on ebay. Technology was created to help make our lives easier. Sometimes I think it just makes us lazier.

It’s scary to see how times have changed. Tech was made to be like us and think like us but that hasn’t been possible and was made a different way to operate. Now humans have become more like tech and how it operates in a systematic and linear way. Sometimes I think tech is making us more limited as well. Creatively and artistic perspectives and skills are becoming more rare. Technology is great but sometimes, I think it’s overdone and growing too fast for humans to fully handle.

Nicholas Carr has published a book that is meaningful to all the people out there no matter what age group they belong in. Reading books was truthfully out of my range. Even though I say that books aren’t for me, in my everyday routine, I came to realize that I am always doing some type of reading. If I am browsing online and looking at different types of writing online, it is my form of reading. I do read the newspaper online everyday. Nicholas Carr had brought me to understand what technology has done to our minds, that’s what has captivated me the most. Seeing the fact that he was a person who could connect to me, motivated me to read the book.

I liked how Nicholas Carr has brought back to the time when scrolls were invented.  (59) He discussed many forms of writing before we reached to the 21st century. He points out how the Greeks and the Romans adopted scrolls as their primary writing. There was also a saying in which Nicholas Carr has said that I have found true. The author quotes “Reading was like working out a puzzle.” (61) I think this quote was very interesting because it speaks out to all ages and how people from different ages have to go through a puzzle like adventure in order to read. Reading has many parts to it, and it can be portrayed as a puzzle. A puzzle is connecting pieces to be able to finish the production, same using various types of methods to read a book.