Kirsten Lundquist
Jorge Evans
English 101
2 March 2013
Technology and the Brain
Technology is like the new cigarette but Instead of going out for a smoke break we switch tabs on our laptop for a “social network break,” and just like any typical 18-21 year old student who is addicted to nicotine would have a cigarette in hand, we instead have our phone in hand as we walk to classes. Just like a person who smokes cigarettes is addicted to nicotine some people may be addicted to technology. So the big question is, are we actually addicted to technology? And is the amount of technology today affecting are society for the better or for the worse?
Some may argue that anyone who uses technology daily is addicted just like someone who is addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. Others may argue that you cannot get a high from the internet or from technology like you do from a cigarette so therefore you cannot be addicted to technology. Whether or not a person is or is not addicted to technology the amount of technology we use daily, hourly, or even every minute could be creating a society that is better or worse. It all depends on how a person looks at it and everyone will have their own opinion on what they think technology is doing to our society but there is scientific evidence about what it does to our brain.
“What kind of brain is the web giving us?” (Carr 1) is the question Nicholas Carr raises in his article “The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains.” Carr believes that using the Internet creates your physiological processes in your brain to fluctuate. Although Carr believes that there are some very small benefits, he ultimately believes that the benefits don’t over rule the damage that is being done. He states that we are “Dazzled by the Net’s treasures, we are blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture” (Carr 2) he is implying that we are too busy being astonished by the technology that we haven’t stepped back to realize what it is doing to not only our brains but to society is destructive.
In response to Carr’s article, Jonah Lehrer argues in his article “Our Cluttered Minds” that the Internet and technology is neither good nor bad. Lehrer believes that the internet is not doing entirely bad things to our brain but it is also not necessarily doing all good things to our brain. Lehrer states that “There is little doubt that the Internet is changing our brain. Everything changes our brain.
