Draft #1 (400-500 words)
Is technology really affecting us all that deeply? Do we have a problem that we can’t see? While I believe something should change, writers Nicholas Carr and Sherry Turkle both wrote about their thoughts on technology. Turkle, an author of 10 books and a professor at MIT, believes that technology is destroying our abilities to make connections. While Carr begs the question “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, believing that our brains are changing and being remapped. These two believe that technology is a distraction, which I agree with. Turkle says it best that technology isn’t allowing “Students… to be making friendships as before. They make acquaintances, but their connections seem superficial.” (Sherry Turkle 345) We are all so caught up in our phones we aren’t able to connect to each other or have the ability to stay focused on the conversation in real life without needing to look at our phones. Carr says that his “concentration often starts to drift” he gets fidgety and begins “looking for something else to do.” (Nicholas Carr 1) I find myself often peeking at my phone in the middle of conversations, making sure I don’t miss a text message. I get fidgety and bored quickly, looking around for something else that seems more interesting, which leads me to my phone; scrolling endlessly, playing a game or just texting a friend. Even while writing only 500 words, I’ve checked my phone multiple times. Is giving in to boredom and looking at my phone every few sentences healthy? While Carr talks to his friends they believe “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (2), so am I making myself worse off by giving into boredom? In Turkle’s piece she explains an experiment that was done where people were asked to sit quietly without a phone or book for fifteen minutes. The ones conducting the experiment asked if they would shock themselves if they became bored. Although at the beginning they said they wouldn’t, they couldn’t stand the boredom, so they decided to shock themselves within only six minutes of being alone. Turkle says we are “Afraid of being alone” (348) but has technology actually just ruined our abilities to keep ourselves busy alone? I think they we are so used to the constant stimulation of our phones; we have unlearned patience. If you are bored, you whip out your phone and find something to do that interests you until it’s time to do something else.
Draft #2 (800 words)
Is technology really affecting us all that deeply? Do we have a problem that we cannot see? While I believe something should change, writers Nicholas Carr and Sherry Turkle both wrote about their thoughts on technology. Turkle, an author of 10 books and a professor at MIT, believes that technology is destroying our abilities to make connections. While Carr begs the question “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, believing that our brains are changing and being remapped. These two believe that technology is a distraction, which I agree with. Turkle says it best that technology is not allowing “Students… to be making friendships as before. They make acquaintances, but their connections seem superficial.” (Sherry Turkle 345) We are all so caught up in our phones that we cannot connect to each other or stay focused on the conversation in real life without looking at our phones. Carr says that his “concentration often starts to drift” he gets fidgety and begins “looking for something else to do.” (Nicholas Carr 1) I find myself often peeking at my phone in the middle of conversations, making sure I do not miss a text message. I get fidgety and bored quickly, looking around for something else that seems more interesting, which leads me to my phone; scrolling endlessly, playing a game, or just texting a friend. Even while writing only 500 words, I have checked my phone multiple times. Is giving in to boredom and looking at my phone every few sentences healthy? While Carr talks to his friends they believe “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (Carr 2), so am I making myself worse off by giving into boredom? In Turkle’s piece, she explains an experiment that was done where people were asked to sit quietly without a phone or book for fifteen minutes. The ones conducting the experiment asked if they would shock themselves if they became bored. Although at the beginning they said they would not, they could not stand the boredom, so they decided to shock themselves within only six minutes of being alone. Turkle says we are “Afraid of being alone” (Turkle 348) but has technology actually just ruined our abilities to keep ourselves busy by ourselves? I think we are so used to the constant stimulation of our phones; we have unlearned patience. If you are bored, you whip out your phone and find something to do that interests you until it is time to do something else. Which leads me to the question I asked above “Am I making myself worse off by giving into boredom?” A few months ago, I would have said no, but the more reading I do the more inclined I am to change my answer. Carr suggests that technology is affecting our attention span, leading to the inability to focus on anything. While Turkle talks about the effects it has had on empathy and relationships. They both discuss all the effects it has had on us, leading my opinion to waver a bit. While I know all this information, I still have not made a change. I check my phone often, take it with me wherever I go, and scroll social media. We strive for something to connect to, the phone gives that to us, as Turkle says it gives us “the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship and then, as the program got really good, the illusion of friendship without the demands of intimacy.” (Turkle 346) As she states here, the connection and companionship we all look for, is now just a click away. It is simple, you do not need to do much work to find this “connection”, no needing to please anyone. It is instant, which we as humans have become accustomed to. In Carr’s work he talks about “the clock”, how it decides for us “when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.”(Carr 4) In a way, that just makes things simple or instant, no need to think about when you need to do what; the clock will tell you. He later says “The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”-the perfect algorithm-to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”” meaning that technology will be able to do everything humans can do, but in a faster, “more efficient” way. This allows humans quick and instant access to everything, just at the touch of a button. How does that affect us? I believe, along with both Carr and Turkle, this is negatively affecting us. And is doing more harm than good to our generations, and the next ones to come. So, take a second and think about what you have just read, would you want to have someone as your boss, coworker, or friend who is more invested in what is happening on their phone than the people around them? How will you help to change this?
Draft #3 (1200 words)
Is technology really affecting us all that deeply? Do we have a problem that we cannot see? While I believe something should change, writers Nicholas Carr and Sherry Turkle both wrote about their thoughts on technology. Turkle, an author of 10 books and a professor at MIT, believes that technology is destroying our abilities to make connections. While Carr begs the question “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, believing that our brains are changing and being remapped. While technology can be useful, it has negatively affected our empathy, abilities to make friends, and our brains.
Turkle and Carr both believe that technology is a distraction, which I agree with. Turkle says it best that technology is not allowing “Students… to be making friendships as before. They make acquaintances, but their connections seem superficial.” (Sherry Turkle 345) We are all so caught up in our phones that we cannot connect to each other or stay focused on the conversation in real life without looking at our phones. Carr says that his “concentration often starts to drift” he gets fidgety and begins “looking for something else to do.” (Nicholas Carr 1) I find myself often peeking at my phone in the middle of conversations, making sure I do not miss a text message. I get fidgety and bored quickly, looking around for something else that seems more interesting, which leads me to my phone; scrolling endlessly, playing a game, or just texting a friend. Even while writing only 500 words, I have checked my phone multiple times. Is giving in to boredom and looking at my phone every few sentences healthy? While Carr talks to his friends they believe “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (Carr 2), so am I making myself worse off by giving into boredom? In Turkle’s piece she explains an experiment that was done where people were asked to sit quietly without a phone or book for fifteen minutes. The ones conducting the experiment asked if they would shock themselves if they became bored. Although at the beginning they said they would not, they could not stand the boredom, so they decided to shock themselves within only six minutes of being alone. Turkle says we are “Afraid of being alone” (Turkle 348) but has technology actually just ruined our abilities to keep ourselves busy by ourselves? I think we are so used to the constant stimulation of our phones; we have unlearned patience. If you are bored, you whip out your phone and find something to do that interests you until it is time to do something else.
Which leads me to the question I asked above “Am I making myself worse off by giving into boredom?” A few months ago, I would have said no, but the more reading I do the more inclined I am to change my answer. Carr suggests that technology is affecting our attention span, leading to the inability to focus on anything. While Turkle talks about the effects it has had on empathy and relationships. They both discuss all the negative effects it has had on us, leading my opinion to waver a bit. While even though I know all this information, I still have not made a change. I still check my phone often, take it with me wherever I go, and scroll social media. But what is that doing to my brain and relationships? I think there’s also positives to technology/phones. There is a comfort in knowing that my phone is always there, in case of an emergency I can reach someone, or someone can reach me. My boyfriend is now three hours away from me as we are both at different colleges, our phones have been a way that we can stay connected. We are able to Facetime every few days, text daily and share videos and photos of what is going on in our lives. We strive for something to connect to, the phone gives that to us, as Turkle says it gives us “the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship and then, as the program got really good, the illusion of friendship without the demands of intimacy.” (Turkle 346) As she states here, the connection and companionship we all look for, is now just a click away. It is simple, you do not need to do much work to find this “connection”, no needing to please anyone. It is instant, which we as humans have become accustomed to. While technology/AI can give the illusion of friendship, my phone has allowed me to keep my real relationship with my boyfriend. We can still be a part of each other’s lives, without physically being with each other. Which I believe has strengthened our relationship. I also believe that technology has affected our brains, while when we talk even in person, he always has an earbud in. He keeps a show on in his ear for what feels like everything in the morning; getting dressed, using the bathroom, brushing teeth, shaving, etc. I on the other hand cannot do that, I would be way to distracted. In psychology I have learned that you get worse at things when you try to multitask, but our society has become so accustom to the thought of “you should always be multitasking, you can get more things done”, but you are actually just switching between tracks slowly losing information from each thing you are trying to do. So, is being able to multitask good or bad, or is it just another example of how we always need stimulation and the most simplest of tasks are too boring?
I do believe that we want everything instant now, even when texting said boyfriend, I want a quick response so I can get back to my day. In Carr’s work he talks about “the clock”, and how it decides for us “when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.”(Carr 4) In a way, that just makes things simple or instant, no need to think about when you need to do what; the clock will tell you. He later makes the point that “The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”-the perfect algorithm-to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”” meaning that technology will be able to do everything humans can do, but in a faster, “more efficient” way. This allows humans quick and instant access to everything, just at the touch of a button. _____
I believe, along with both Carr and Turkle, that technology is negatively affecting us. And is doing more harm than good to our generations, and the next ones to come. The internet is taking over basic functions, leading humans to not have to take the time to think. While that may seem more efficient, taking the time to take out your phone to ask Google to problem solve for you will take a lot longer than if you just took the time to think about it and use common sense. We need to find a balance between this newfound love and addiction. This problem is not going away, and there’s great benefits if we use it properly. We just cannot become consumed by it, or we will not be able to think for ourselves anymore. So, take a second and think about what you have just read, would you want to have someone as your boss, coworker, or friend who is more invested in what is happening on their phone than the people around them? How will you help to change this?
