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9 pages/≈2475 words
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MLA
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Literature & Language
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Essay
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:
How the Internet, Smartphones Affect Memory
Essay Instructions:
How is the Internet, smart phones etc. affecting our memories?
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How the Internet, Smartphones Affect Memory
Introduction
Four decades have elapsed since the invention of the Internet made disruptive changes in the way people have access to information. The impacts of this technological revolution on the human brain is still a question under intensive debate. One particular concern is about how the Internet affects the human memory or the capacity to remember (Mills 385). Early evidence on scepticism about the effects of any disruptive technology on humans can be traced back to 370 BCE when Socrates warned his students about the dangers of writing. In Socrates’ immortalized views, Plato’s dialogue contains sceptic views shared by the ancient philosopher that writing leads to forgetfulness among learners who have tendency to writer instead of memorising. Socrates believed that when students write, they produce external characters that are not part of themselves and such a habit will discourage the application of their memory that is within them (Mills 385). A new version of Socrates thoughts has hit scientists, teachers, parents, and the public with the emergence of computer technologies that allow easy access to information. An article by Nicholas Carr titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid” was published in 2008 to raise scepticism over the increased reliance on Google search engine to find information (Carr np). Since then, there have been endless debates over what the Internet is capable of doing to the human cognition and there have not been conclusions yet. With scientists increasingly getting concerned whether people are likely to remember information accessed using Internet-enabled devices such as smartphones, just as students are more likely to recall ideas and facts they believe will be on an examination, evidence collected from different research studies indicate that the Internet reprograms memory, improves brain function, encourages multitasking, and improves attention span.
While the Internet and smartphones are thought to alter the brain functions, research conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 2010 shows that as people increasingly use the Internet and internet-enabled devices such as smartphones, they become more intelligent and can make better decisions. The research involved 895 critics and technology stakeholders who participated in an online survey to respond to questions in regards to their expectations of socio-political and economic changes expected by the year 2020 (Anderson np). Study results indicated that 76% of the respondents disagreed with Nicholas Carr’s statement that Google made people stupid. Carr, the eminent tech analyst and scholar had published a provocative cover story for The Atlantic titles “Is Google making us Stupid? (Naughton np)” during the summer of 2008. In the article, he argued that the distractions experienced during web browsing and the ease of making online searches had significantly limited his concentration capacity (Carr np). He argued his case citing that he had become a skimmer and a browsing reader instead of an engaged and deep reader. In his defence, Carr quoted research findings from neuroscientists who documented that the brain has evolved to be more plastic...
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