As the metaphor made by Nicholas Carr, the brains of human
beings are plasticable, so that the technology like clock can change the
patterns of our lives. Similarly, internet as one of the intellectual technologies,
has the even stronger impact on human beings. Thus, some of the traditional media
change the way it used to be, and transform it close to the new media –
internet media.
After read over the article, there are three thoughts that I
generated. Firstly, people get lazy when they get the chance to make work
easier – they do not practice memory as frequently as used to be. For example,
after the Microsoft Office came to the market, people abandon the traditional
way to type the word – utilizing typewriter or pen and paper. Although the
software is much easier to be used and operated, and with the help of the error
check function, plenty of people cannot spell words correctly by themselves
right now.
Secondly, although Google engine enable our lives better off
and more efficient, it takes much advantage of economy. More people use Google
to do the investment, such as advertisements. Sometimes, when I searched for an
unpopular topic, I need to flip over couple of pages to find a link that I
really need, which is really annoy. Because the top results in the first pages
are the ones that is viewed and clicked by most of the audience.
Finally, the issue closest to us students is that when we meet
with problems nowadays, the first thing we will do is Google searching. For
instance, we use Google search or Google Scholar to find out the answers or
references for academic writing. However, this is considered as plagiarism if
without paraphrase. Moreover, even we paraphrase the answer, the help with
Google does not make us think about the topic ourselves. Instead, we utilize
other people’s thoughts or works, which is helpless to our academic lives.
As far as I am concerned, whether the intellectual
technology like Google is good or not is hard to say, since it is a paradox issue.
Artificial intellectual makes our lives better and easier, but at the same
time, also bring us laziness and risks. The effectiveness of Google mostly
depends on the individual human being – the way we use it and the purpose we
want to achieve.
Reference: Nicholas Carr. Is Google making us stupid?
Indeed, I couldn't agree more with the academic searching point. Less and less students now using the library and traditional books to do the research. That's too much time consuming. When I opened some classmates' references, all website addresses. Moreover, the ideas are mostly rewritten. Our thoughts are shaped by searching. Therefore, no creativity any more. What a pity!
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I agree with the ads come up with the searching result are annoying me to some extent. But I view them not all useless sometime. Because the payed ads are in the first part of the page and push you to take a look at them. Surprisingly, I find some are useful to me. It reminds me the products that I need but forgot all the time. So I have to admit my concentration was shifted this way ~~|||
All in all, good job, Julia. Very clear and logical thinking. Hope we can do well the rest blogs~ I will keep returning~
Really like the idea of people more like to use others' ideas instead think out be themselves! That' s really a problem. How can be get more improvement if we always repeat? And I think that would be the problem education experts should think about and try to solve. We need creative ideas, and need to find the answer truly deep in our hearts but not the "right" one.
ReplyDeleteJulia,
ReplyDeleteI really like your analysis on Google. Most of your points come from your real life experience which is very persuasive. I strongly agree with your point that students’ individual thoughts become less valued since certain parts of them come from Google search. It is just like a coin has two sides. Google search provides a great tool for students to find articles and proves to support their thoughts, but it also gives opportunities to Internet free riders that just take advantage of it with less thinking. We used to have “Plagiarism” defines copy of others’ work. But with all the information all over the Internet, it is hard to define individual’s work. People will pull out information here and there and combine it to an original work. This will really drag back the speed of development.