The Internet is not a Negative Change

            There is no doubt in my mind that the internet has a large effect of our daily lives at this point in time. However, I do no think that this impact is a bad thing. Throughout time there have been many inventions, ideas, and discoveries that have changed the way humans live their lives. Books, radios, phones and planes are all examples of inventions that have changed our world as we know it. The internet is not different. 

            I feel that Nicholas Carr, in his novel The Shallows, often comes off as bias. He clearly states his opinion that he is against the internet and what it seems to be doing to society. He claims that the internet is changing the way our minds think, and he supports this argument with research evidence about the brain. However, why does this change have to be considered bad? I’m sure that when the radio was invented it changed not only the way we lived, but it also had an affect on the way we think and view the world. I have learned in my psychology class that music triggers synapses in the brain that are not similar to anything else we have seen. Imagine when the world was first filled with music from house to house, that was revolutionary compared to the way people were living before. Music changed society and the world as we knew it to be back then, and that is exactly what the internet is doing.

            My point is, why does Carr make the internet out to be some kind of criminal that is destroying our the way our minds/society function? I agree that I have changed since I have started using the internet more often, but why does that change have to be a negative one? I feel as if I can handle more information that is thrown at me since I have started using the internet. I feel that I am a better at multi-tasking and that I can get my work done faster and more efficiently. However, just because I am getting my work done faster does not mean that I do it with half the effort. I believe that the internet gives people the chance to change themselves in both a positive and negative way, and that it is up to people and their character to decide which effect it has on themselves personally. 

             For me, the internet has had some positive and negative effects. Yes, I have become more efficient in my work, but I also feel I am distracted. This may seem like a contradiction, but it is not. When I am doing work I can easily find what I need on the internet and get the job done. However, when I am out with friends, or during my leisure time, I feel like I can sometimes be distracted by the internet itself. Certain websites keep me distracted. I find myself being taken away from a moment with my friends so that I can post about it on Facebook or Twitter. Carr uses an example of this in The Shallows. He talks about going to a play and not paying full attention to it. Instead, half the audience is tweeting about it. Though I would like to say this is not the case for me, it can be sometimes. Although I have gained both negative and positive qualities since I started using the internet more often, I can and will not place the blame on the internet itself. It is my fault if I am distracted and it is also my fault if I am more efficient. Either way, I believe the internet is not corrupting our society. 

- Kaitlin MacKinnon