Jacob Osmer

Jesse Miller

ENG 110

27 October 2023

Technology and Distraction – 400 word draft

            Distraction is a word that brings forth both positive and negative emotions, defined by the Oxford English dictionary as simply, “something that distracts or diverts the mind or attention.” Distraction is a word that doesn’t necessarily have one connotation but is rather defined by personal experiences. However, it is beyond doubt that modern technology has caused us to become distracted. Nicholas Carr, an American journalist and published author, provides his stance on modern technology in his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, in which he uses personal anecdotes, as well as some of his acquaintances’, to discuss the mostly negative effects that modern technology has had on our ability to think, write, and read, describing modern humans as “pancake people”, unlike the “cathedral-like” In-text cite these snippets thinkers of the past. Another American author, Sam Anderson, defends the idea of being distracted in his essay properly titled “In Defense of Distraction”. Anderson analyzes the typical western viewpoint of technology’s ability to distract and flips it on its head, [JO1] briefly summarize what Anderson discusses in his essay without going into too much detail on the specifics. Anderson truly believes that distraction can be a good thing, and that the responsibility of finding your limit and breaking away is on the user, not the device. While both writers may disagree with each other regarding some of the different aspects of modern technology, both would agree that (Thesis?) humanity has formed an irreversible and unbreakable bond with modern technology that has forever changed how we live our day-to-day lives, some of these beneficial, but some detrimental.

            Body Paragraph One – The internet?

            While the sheer complexity of it might seem impossible for such a short time span, the internet was invented not too long ago; its frameworks were established towards the latter half of the 1900s. Nowadays many aspects of life have been partially transition or live solely on the internet, like reading the news, consuming entertainment, list a few more examples of what has been converted to digital format on the internet.

“as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets’ reading and writing emails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link” (Carr 2).

         

            Body Paragraph Two – Discuss how both authors present the idea of technology changing our brains.

            One interesting topic that seems to reemerge when talking about technology’s effect on us it how it could be “rewiring” our brains. Both Carr and Anderson seem to suggest that this theory is true, but both authors take a different approach.

Potential quotes for this paragraph:

• “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?” (Carr 2)

            Body Paragraph Three – Unsure

            Conclusion – Now, and in the future

            Touch on the “why?” aspect of this essay. Why do the thoughts of Carr and Anderson matter? Why do my thoughts matter?

Works Referenced

Cite Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Cite Anderson’s “In Defense of Distraction”

Cite Oxford English Dictionary “Distraction”

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Jacob Osmer

Jesse Miller

ENG 110

27 October 2023

Technology and Distraction – 800 word draft

            Distraction is a word that brings forth both positive and negative emotions, defined by the Oxford English dictionary as simply, “something that distracts or diverts the mind or attention.” Distraction is a word that doesn’t necessarily have one connotation but is rather defined by personal experiences. However, it is beyond doubt that modern technology has caused us to become distracted. Nicholas Carr, an American journalist and published author, provides his stance on modern technology in his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, in which he uses personal anecdotes, as well as some of his acquaintances’, to discuss the mostly negative effects that modern technology has had on our ability to think, write, and read, describing modern humans as “pancake people”, unlike the “cathedral-like” (In-text cite these snippets) thinkers of the past. Another American author, Sam Anderson, defends the idea of being distracted in his essay properly titled “In Defense of Distraction”. Anderson analyzes the typical western viewpoint of technology’s ability to distract and counterargues it. In his essay, he details our obsession with distraction and how it “has migrated into the center of our cultural attention” (Anderson 1). He does not deny that we are distracted, instead believing that distraction can be a good thing and has benefited us in a multitude of ways. Anderson also claims that the responsibility of finding the limit and breaking away from technology is on the user, not the device. While both writers may disagree with each other regarding some of the different aspects of modern technology, both would agree that (Is this my thesis?) humanity has formed an irreversible and unbreakable bond with modern technology that has forever changed how we live our day-to-day lives, some of these beneficial, but some detrimental.

            Body Paragraph One – The internet?

            While the sheer complexity of it might seem impossible for such a short span of development, the internet was invented not too long ago; its frameworks were established towards the latter half of the 1900s. Nowadays, many aspects of life have been partially transitioned or live solely on the internet, like reading the news, consuming entertainment, artwork, reading, and countless other activities. (end of paragraph note) With this comes plenty of opportunities to become distracted. We have all experienced this; you’re scrolling on the internet and one of those click-baity articles pops into your peripherals. “Amazon hates when prime members do this, but they can’t stop you,” one says. In moments the task on hand has been completely forgotten about and you’ve been dragged into a shameless Capital One Shopping ad disguised as an article. Carr also shares these same experiences, saying how even when not working, he is “as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets’ reading and writing emails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link” (Carr 2). Carr’s use of “tripping” from link to link brings forth a negative, shallow feeling to surfing the web, also evident in how he describes himself from going from a diver in the sea to riding a jet ski on the surface. And it isn’t just Carr and me. A study done by the University College London showed that “people using the sites exhibited ‘a form of skimming activity,’ hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would ‘bounce’ out to another cite” (Carr 3). It is evident that

There are so many good quotes that could be used in the first paragraph – I also have these (the second of which might be relevant to the note I put above):

• “When the net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws… The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.”
• “The net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations … Old media have little choice by the new media rules.” (Maybe I could fit this into a “so what?” in the conclusion.

            Body Paragraph Two – Discuss how both authors present the idea of technology changing our brains.

            One interesting topic that seems to reemerge when talking about technology’s effect on us it how it could be “rewiring” our brains. Both Carr and Anderson seem to suggest that this theory is true, but both authors take a different approach.

Potential quotes for this paragraph:

• “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?” (Carr 2)

            Body Paragraph Three – Unsure

            Conclusion – Now, and in the future

            Touch on the “why?” aspect of this essay. Why do the thoughts of Carr and Anderson matter? Why do my thoughts matter?

Works Referenced

Cite Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Cite Anderson’s “In Defense of Distraction”

Cite Oxford English Dictionary “Distraction”

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Jacob Osmer

Jesse Miller

ENG 110

27 October 2023

Technology and Distraction – 1000 word draft

Introduction

            Distraction is a word that brings forth both positive and negative emotions, defined by the Oxford English dictionary as simply,[GU1]  “something that distracts or diverts the mind or attention.” Distraction is a word that doesn’t necessarily have one connotation but is rather defined by personal experiences. However, it is beyond doubt that modern technology has caused us to become distracted. Nicholas Carr, an American journalist and published author, provides his stance on modern technology in his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, in which he uses personal anecdotes, as well as some of his acquaintances’, to discuss the mostly negative effects that modern technology has had on our ability to think, write, and read, describing modern humans as “pancake people”, unlike the “cathedral-like” (Carr 7) thinkers of the past. Another American author, Sam Anderson, defends the idea of being distracted in his essay properly titled “In Defense of Distraction”. Anderson[GU2]  analyzes the typical western viewpoint of technology’s ability to distract and counterargues it. In his essay, he details our obsession with distraction and how it “has migrated into the center of our cultural attention” (Anderson 1). He does not deny that we are distracted, instead believing that distraction can be a good thing and has benefited us in a multitude of ways. Anderson also claims that the responsibility of finding the limit and breaking away from technology is on the user, not the device. While both writers may disagree with each other regarding some of the different aspects of modern technology, both would agree that (Is this my thesis?)[GU3]  humanity has formed an irreversible and unbreakable bond with modern technology that has forever changed how we live our day-to-day lives, some of these beneficial, but some detrimental.

            Body Paragraph One – The internet?

            While the sheer complexity of it might seem impossible for such a short span of development, the internet was invented not too long ago; its frameworks were established towards the latter half of the 1900s. Nowadays, many aspects of life have been partially transitioned or live solely on the internet, like reading the news, consuming entertainment, artwork, reading, and countless other activities. (end of paragraph note) With this comes plenty of opportunities to become distracted. We have all experienced this; you’re scrolling on the internet and one of those click-bait articles pops into your peripherals. “Amazon hates[GU4]  when prime members do this, but they can’t stop you,” one says. In moments the task on hand has been completely forgotten about and you’ve been dragged into a shameless Capital One Shopping ad disguised as an article. Carr also shares these experiences, saying how even when not working, he is “as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets’ reading and writing emails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link” (Carr 2). Carr’s use of “tripping”[GU5]  from link to link brings forth a negative, shallow feeling to surfing the web, also evident in how he describes himself from going from a diver in the sea to riding a jet ski on the surface. And it isn’t just Carr and me. A study done by the University College London showed that “people using the sites exhibited ‘a form of skimming activity,’ hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would ‘bounce’ out to another cite” (Carr 3). It is evident that something about how the internet is structured has caused us to become a lot more distracted. While Anderson typically has a differing opinion and blames distraction on the user, not the technology, he does not completely deny the internet’s ability to distract, saying, “I’m not ready to blame my restless attention entirely on a faulty willpower. Some of it is pure impersonal behaviorism. The Internet is basically a Skinner box[GU6]  engineered to tap right into our deepest mechanisms of addiction.” Clearly the way that the internet is designed is made for the users to get distracted as possible [GU7] and suck them into whatever the creator of the distraction will profit from.

There are so many good quotes that could be used in the first paragraph[GU8]  – I also have these (the second of which might be relevant to the note I put above):

• “When the net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws… The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.”
• “The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind ‘is very plastic.’ Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. ‘The brain,’ according to Olds, ‘has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.’”

            Body Paragraph Two – Discuss how both authors present the idea of technology changing our brains.

            One interesting topic that seems to repeatedly emerge when talking about technology’s effect on us is how it could be “rewiring” our brains. Both Carr and Anderson seem to suggest that this theory is true, but both authors take a different approach. Carr takes an anecdotal approach, starting his essay with, “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory” (Carr 1).

Connect these two ideas

Anderson backs up his claims of technology changing our brain with scientific evidence, “More than any other organ, the brain is designed to change based on experience, a feature called neuroplasticity… As we become more skilled at the 21st-century task Meyer calls “flitting,” the wiring of the brain will inevitably change to deal more efficiently with more information. The neuroscientist Gary Small speculates that the human brain might be changing faster today than it has since the prehistoric discovery of tools[GU9] . Research suggests we’re already picking up new skills: better peripheral vision, the ability to sift information rapidly[GU10] 

Potential quotes for this paragraph:

• “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?” (Carr 2)

            Body Paragraph Three – Unsure (If my first and second body paragraphs provide sufficient analysis, I probably won’t need this one)

            Conclusion – Now, and in the future

            Touch on the “why?” aspect of this essay. Why do the thoughts of Carr and Anderson matter? Why do my thoughts matter?

            Modern technology is almost unavoidable living in today’s world and will only become more and more integrated into the day-to-day lives of everyone.[GU11] 

• “The net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations … Old media have little choice by the new media rules.”

Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic, July 2008.

Anderson, Sam. “In Defense of Distraction.” New York Magazine, May 17, 2009.

Cite Oxford English Dictionary “Distraction”

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