Scatterbrains and the Internet

Throughout the two stories by Nicholas Carr and Clive Thompson, both authors explain their feelings about technology and the how it effects our daily lives. In Carr’s, “Hal and Me”, the narrator describes how his brain has changed from the rise of technology. He also explains how the internet has become his number one medium and way of receiving information. The narrator explains that he does his banking, shopping, pays his bills, schedules appointments, and he even renews his driver’s license by using the internet. He proceeds to tell the audience how he has trouble reading now because of using the internet. The narrator has a very low patience and cannot enjoy reading a long novel or article. The internet has allowed us to find our answers with a quick search into a browser. The narrator tells us he is not the only one having these issues and that it seems that everyone around him is also understanding what is happening. The internet has changed the many ways people think and communicate. It could very possibly be changing the way our brain’s function. The author uses several key terms that help the readers understand the point and purpose of the text. Some of these key terms include: “chronic scatterbrains”, “the flood of free content turned into a tidal wave”, and “… was demanding to be fed the way the Net fed it…”. With the internet and technology continuing to improve every second, the narrator explains, “… the Internet, I sensed, was turning me into something like a high-speed data processing machine, a human HAL. I missed my old brain.” The author continues to explain the advantages and disadvantages with the internet and technology, and it comes down to the conclusion of, are we all going to become scatterbrains and miss the old way we used to think?

In Clive Thompson’s, “The Rise of the Centaurs”, the author begins with debating whether computers or humans are better at chess. A super champion and a computer go head to head and the computer ends up with the win. However, this did not surprise the champion, but he would use the computer’s tips and tricks to his advantage in the next match. This shows how there are many different ways the Internet can be used to our advantage. The narrator also explains how the different biases that effect our way of thinking. He explains how the internet helps with our external memory, it helps us with finding different connections, and encourages communication. He then goes through the positives and negatives of how the internet has developed and the other ways it affects us. For example, “Are these changes good or bad for us? If you asked me twenty years ago, when I first started writing about technology, I’d have said ‘bad’.” The author’s main point throughout the article was to explain how technology has developed for the better. There are some flaws with the internet, but there are several ways that it has helped us improve our daily lives.