The Greatest Technology Ever

            Throughout Carr’s entire book he tells the readers that whether we realize it or not we are being transformed by our new technologies whenever we use them.  For most, if not all of us who use these technologies every day for hours a day this would me that we are being constantly transformed to a new state of being.  Carr believes that the internet is the main perpetrator of this transformation and if it does not become limited than we will all become dependent on the internet and lose our true sense of humanity.

            The argument that the internet is becoming a part of us is well-founded.  I personally use the internet every day and when I am unable to get internet access I find myself lost and I feel I lose many of my abilities to gain knowledge.  Using the internet so much to gain knowledge in several topics makes me feel accomplished many times after I am done browsing the web.  The fact that I am able to gain this knowledge makes me feel a strong dispute in the argument that the internet is making me more stupid.  Although several of the things that we do online tend to be for entertainment and not very intellectual there are just as many things to see on the internet that will develop your knowledge.

The internet is not just a phenomenon that is being used in one isolated location in the world.  Everywhere in the world the internet is in use and if you are not using the internet you will not be looked up to or be considered a person of high intelligence.  Being a non-internet user will actual put you behind the rest of the world.  Someone could write a research paper using the help of the internet in a matter of weeks or even less, without the internet a researcher will have to travel place to place looking for books, articles, and people to talk to.  This process for a non-user could potentially take up to a year and in the end their paper may be very similar to if not worse than the researcher who used the internet.

Technology is defined as an innovation that will help to make a process quicker, more efficient, and easier, so why is the internet any different from any other technology that has been produced.  Arguing against the internet is like arguing against fire or the wheel.  For us to advance as people we have been coming up with new technologies for years now and for the most part we have embraced the changes.  Before we get up in arms about whether or not there is a huge problem regarding the internet we have to realize what the internet is and what its purpose is to do.  When we realize that the internet is a technology just like we have be developing for thousands of years prior to its release is when we can judge the way it is used and whether it is a problem needing a solution.

-Martin Gray