Quality vs Efficiency

            “During the course of the day, most of us with access to the Web spend at least a couple of hours online- sometimes much more,” (Carr 116). I can’t agree more with the point that Nicholas Carr makes in Chapter 7 of his book The Shallows.  Because lets face it, it’s true. Every morning I wake up, check my email, check my Facebook, and look up the weather. Every day on my way to class I am using my phone to listen to music while I check my email and Facebook again. After every class I do the same. And then later on in the evening I use the Internet to do some homework. This is a nonstop repeated process, one that I cant even imagine stopping.

But it doesn’t just end there. I’ve started to find that the more I use the computer, the more I rely on it. What I mean is, rather than bringing a notebook and pen to class, I will always bring my laptop with me if its allowed. Why? Well its gotten to the point where I feel as though I type faster than I write. And I don’t think this is a good thing. The Net may command “our attention with far greater insistency than our television or radio or morning news paper ever did,” but that doesn’t mean that simply using the technology of computers and Word documents do the same as the Internet.

Through reading The Shallows thus far, I have realized that although I type most of my notes in class, I am not actually retaining nearly as much info as I would if I physically wrote it out on paper. So normally the way to solve this problem would be to stop bringing my laptop to class. And as much as I would like to do that, I know I wont. I wont because I find it much easier and more efficient to type my notes rather than writing them down, and then typing them after. Carr mentions “supplying information in more than one form doesn’t always take a toll on understanding,” (Carr 131). This may be true, but it’s not necessarily whether or not we understand it overall, but I believe that its more a matter of how well we initially absorb information that can really be affected. The Net may be “an interruption system, a machine geared for dividing attention, (Carr 131), but unfortunately I think that regardless if we know all of this, nothing will change. Because frankly, everything we do today is about the ease and efficiency. And although we should focus on the quality of the information, as well as the process we used to obtain it, many people wont take the extra time in today’s society.

For myself, although I know that I initially retain information better if I write things down, I will continue to use the Internet and my computer as much as I can. I will because it doesn’t “always take a toll on [my] understanding,” (Carr 131), it just means that I may need to spend a little extra time reviewing the info rather then spending extra time writing it out, and potentially missing important things in class. 

-Michelle Krupnik