Julia Denietolis

Julia Denietolis

Distractions

Nicholas Carr constantly refers to the distractions the Internet brings to our attention. According to Carr, the Internet bombards the brain with a myriad of stimuli making it impossible to fully concentrate on any given article of text online. He says, “By combining many different kinds of information on a single screen, the multimedia Net further fragments content and disrupts our concentration” (Carr 91). I disagree with this argument. If someone is interested and invested in the topic of which he or she is reading about online, then the distractions will be ignored. However, I will agree that while on the Internet if I do not care about the topic I have to research, I will allow myself to acknowledge the multitude of distractions on the screen. My argument is that I will do the same while reading a book. If I am not invested in the book I have in front of me, then I will allow myself to fall victim to the multitudes of distractions there are in the room around me. The Internet is not the only thing bombarding the mind with distractions and it is not because of the Internet that Carr believes people have lost the ability to concentrate for a lengthy time. I believe this lack of concentration is due to a lack on interest.

Carr furthers his argument saying the more time people spend “scanning Web pages crowds out the time we spend reading books.” Again I disagree with his statement and will further my argument of interest. I am just as likely to scan a book as I am to scan a website if I do not find the content of any value to me. The Internet doesn’t force someone to scan or to read, the content of the text and the interests of the person is what will determine if a Web page is scanned or read and the same applies to a book or novel.

Another argument Carr tires to make is the pattern of brain activity while online versus while reading a book. He says, “researchers found that when people search the Net they exhibit a very different pattern of brain activity than they do when they read book-like text” (Carr 121). My point is that searching and reading are two different activities that are bound to produce different patterns in the brain. I would question Carr’s argument and ask what would brain activity look like while searching through a book. Would it be similar to what is brought about by searching on the Web?