About 149,000,000 results (0.31 seconds)
"Define atrophy"
About 1,740,000 results (0.29 seconds)
The above were actual Google searches that I made. I didn't care what information I learned from Googling the phrases. What I was focusing on was the speed at which I could receive information. As you can see, I can get information very fast, so fast that the speed is measured in tenths of seconds.
I think that the incredible speed at which the Internet allows us to obtain information is affecting our ability to be patient. Answers to homework can come with the click of a button. Advertisements entice us to "buy now", and online shopping stores and express shipping allows us to do so. On the web, we don't stop and read whole articles, but instead scan as we go to get our answers as fast as possible. This has affected our ability to read (but don't worry, there's an app for that too. It's called SparkNotes! It's much faster).
This brings me to The Shallows. Carr talks about how he can't concentrate on reading for long periods of time anymore. The plasticity of his brain (and all of our brains) has allowed him to replace the deep reading skills of his childhood with new Internet-bred habits. Throughout the book, he talks about these and other negative effects of technology. I would like to add an increase in impatience to his list of negative effects.
The image below shows some startling stats that add to the argument that the Internet is making us impatient. What does everyone think? Do you agree that impatience is a side effect of using the web? If so, what does this mean for upcoming generations and the future of America?
I think the Internet is causing us to be impatient because we are so used to getting our information so quick. I have noticed that when the internet takes too long I tend to exit the page. Although I'm one of those people who isn't very patient, we should learn to have more patience because some things just don't happen in under a minute.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Kaila. We live in a world where we want everything to happen quick and even instantaneous. We want money quick because sometimes we are lazy to work, we want instant coffee, but most of all we we want instant search results. We are too lazy, myself included, to go to a library and crack open a book to find the information we need because we have become independent on everything fast, especially the internet. However, I don't think we can be blamed for living in a instant America. With everything in the world happening fast, we have become accustomed to a "fast" life and we don't think about patience until someone points it out to us, as you have. I do agree with Jazmine and that we do need to just sometimes take a breather and relax and be patient. Not everything will come fast and sometimes we have to work for it, which can sometimes take long, but we will be happy with the results of our patience.
ReplyDeleteI would to bring attention to another fact from the given information: the “Best Pickup Lines” search yielded almost one hundred and fifty times as many results as the “Define atrophy”. I understand that there should not be many sights that define just one word, so I tested some other intellectual searches. “Obama’s political views” yielded thirty-three million results, “Math techniques” yielded forty-eight million results, and “Important scientific theories” yielded twenty-three million results. I think this shows where our society’s priorities lie.
ReplyDelete