1. Carr argues that having such advanced technology in our pants pockets is affecting the way we learn and read. What does Carr mean when he says having access to infinite knowledge is making us stupid?

Carr makes a very good argument: the more we rely on artificial intelligence to make us smarter, the more we become mechanic, like artificial intelligence. The flood of information is at our fingertips, and the making of the web is purposefully designed to distract our attention as we navigate it. As scientists have seen, our brains continue to create paths and connections, and the use of the internet creates paths that favor skimming through words while comprehending less, rather than patiently reading and maybe re-reading articles.

1. Do you think there are problems with having immediate access? What are we losing by doing this? (For example, have you ever had to go to the library and find a physical book to conduct research?)

When we have immediate access to everything, we lose the experience, we lose the endurance gained when it is a struggle to find the information you need. We don’t develop the patience that comes from the tedious task of constant research. However, we gain time that is so precious, especially today. As society continues to change rapidly, technology allows us to be at the same pace. I wouldn’t be able to do as well in my college studies if I had to find an available textbook, pay for it, and research it versus having the electronic version with links.

1. Shirkey argues that by constantly having access to the internet, we are able to experiment with new areas of knowledge in a much easier/accessible way. What are the pros/cons of this?

Without the access to the internet it would be very difficult to explore so many different areas of interest. Sometimes I google random facts, and then read up more about those facts and within an hour I’ve read more than what could’ve taken me an hour to find without the internet. However, being complacent with having the knowledge so easily at our disposal can lead to us taking less time to exercise our brain by making an effort to retain the information. We may consume the information easier, but we aren’t fully digesting.

1. What do YOU think? Is the internet giving us new knowledge, or is it melting our brains in a way? Or both?

The internet both gives us knowledge but “melts our brain away” slowly. There’s no denying that the internet contains an extraordinary amount of information, yet the ease with which it hands it to us may very well exempt the brain from working. However, if we don’t exercise the muscle which is our brain, we will debilitate our ability to use it efficiently, and to a greater capacity.

• I think what Carr means by that is when we have easy access to so much information, it also creates an illusion of knowledge because we can quickly search on the internet and have an answer to our questions with a little bit of effort. However, the information is not going into our memory. He stated “ My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” in other words, it creates a superficial knowledge. Is there anything wrong to get into Google and look for information? No, but when it becomes a dangerous problem is when we just want to look smart by giving an answer without analyzing or processing the info.
• I do not think the problem is having immediate access to information. Due to the fact of accessing to information, that we might need without putting any effort besides just linking to the web… that it does not make us smart, which makes people lazy. It originates a problem when people fully rellies only on that. For example, I recently was doing online research, I found a LOT of “information” but here is the thing, anyone can post o create a website and put it wherever they want, is that mean the info is reliable? Of course no, you know the answer to that. We need to and evaluated information. In my opinion, the process of doing research through the library is much better because we know that information is serious, nevertheless, the process of doing it, reading, touching a book connecting our senses. That helps to hold information in our brains and gives us the ability to recall later in life.
• Using the internet wisely will help us a lot and it will give us knowledge if we focus and know-how to deal with distractions. Since the pandemic, technology, and the internet become to be an essential tool. It turns into a very important aid that helps us to succeed in our jobs, classes and to keep concert in certain kinds of ways with our loved ones. For me was really necessary because I was working with immigrant families, so technology was a need to keep in contact with my clients.
  The sad part is that children are been affected in a negative way because now they have a wide-open door to see and hear anything. For people with mental illness the internet, specifically social media is a scape of their reality and sometimes changes to the worse. Years ago I hear an expression, something like that “The Smarter phone, the dumbest people” I did not understand that at that time, but I have seen it now. Again, I think technology can be a source and utensil that can be used when is necessary only. But NOTHING compares to our minds.

1. Nicholas Carr’s main point in the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” is that as the internet becomes our key source of data, it begins to affect our ability to read books as well as other long pieces. What I interpreted Carr saying “ having access to infinite knowledge is making us stupid” is that while this tool may increase knowledge productivity, it also dries our brain’s learning process. Carr explains from his first-hand experience on his own issue with reading “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages…. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.”He discusses how the internet is set up to make money for other people, and how our critical thinking skills and attention spans are deteriorating as a result.
2. I do think that we lose out on the experience of having to physically do research but I don’t think immediate access is a bad thing. Times have changed and with it the people as well. Nowadays we don’t open cookbooks, we have recipes online. It’s just the way things are, a google search saves so much time and effort. 
3. I completely agree with Shirkley that having this constant access does add to having easier access to new areas of knowledge. The pros of this are the convenience in sharing and receiving information worldwide, entertainment, etc. Cons can include addiction, decrease in focus, health issues. 
4. I think the internet is great in the sense that it’s not so time-consuming if I want to learn something new. It also connects me to a whole other society globally. I really do believe it’s a balance with how a user takes advantage of this access. As much as the internet saves many folks time it can also take up so much time. Maybe spending an hour a day is beneficial but with many including myself, an hour turns into two which turns into three, and so on. Just because we’ve advanced this far doesn’t mean we all know how to cope with it, it’s a learning process that takes discipline. 

1. What I think carr means when he says having access to infinite knowledge is making us stupid, I don’t think he means we are becoming stupid because everyone is intelligent in their ways. What I think he meant is that access to infinite knowledge is making us lazy and not affecting our decision-making. This affects the way we learn and read because it gives us a hard time analyzing articles we read, our memory is being affected and we are just addicted to our phones all the time.
2. As much as I love the internet and technology, I have to admit that there are problems with having immediate access. That is because It leads to many harmful things such as cyberbullying, social isolation, internet addiction, and more, these can severely affect young children because children’s brains like sponges, what they see, hear, and learn from their peers will do the same. We could be losing useful skills, it can cause us to lessen our problem-solving skills, creativity, imagination, and awareness.
3. Shirkey argues that by constantly having access to the internet, we can experiment with new areas of knowledge in a much easier way. I think there are more pros than cons, some pros I can think of are how this can make a faster research process, learning different skills and languages, accessing important research that can help experiments instead of going to the library and taking hours and maybe days to figure something out. A few con’s I can think of is how constantly access to the internet can cause addiction, make us feel lazy, and could give us a hard time focusing on our work.
4.  I think that the internet is giving us new knowledge but also melting our brains because It is how we use it. We can limit how long we can use the internet, we can also use it for good things such as for work, communicating with people around the world, learning new things, or doing online shopping but we should limit our usage. Recently, I watched a youtube video of a young boy who is addicted to playing video games, he has a hard time focusing in school, became lazy, and wouldn’t want to do anything else except play video games. Video game addiction is real and people do get addicted to the internet so we should remember how harmful it can be to our mental health. Since the pandemic many people have been working from home, students have been doing online classes, it’s pretty hard to maintain our new lifestyle now due to Covid19. I’ve been using the internist much more now to socialize, for work, for doing my assignments, and for entertainment, so sometimes a break is needed.