It is human nature, it seems, to develop new technologies to impact or help the human race, however, it is interesting to notice that as these inventions and technologies become more popular and are used regularly in our daily lives our thought process adapts to become similar to the devices we use. This is the point of acclaimed author Nicholas Carr in his essay "Is Google Making Us Stupid". Contrary to what the title suggests, Carr is not claiming that Google is actually making us stupid, he just wants us to be aware that the technologies that we spend so much of our time using are changing the way we think and process information. We know this because Carr says, "As we use tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies"(par 13).
Carr uses large amounts of evidence to back up his claim, one such example is his comparison of the modern day internet use leap to the invention of the clock. He points out that when the clock was invented people, who previously lived their lives following their biological clock, then became fervent followers of the mechanical clock, allowing the clock to dictate all aspects of their lives. "In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock" (par 14). Carr also presents another compelling example, His and his friends and colleagues' personal experiences. He says, "The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle," (par 1) and "...what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation" (par 3). You can also see this present in much of today's youth in their short attention spans.
"The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes" (par 2). After reading this you can tell that Carr is not fully against the internet he just wishes us to realize the results of out use of technology.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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