Technology Dependence: Gladstone and Neufeld’s The Influencing Machine and Nicholas Carr’s is Google Making Us Stupid

Is Technology Changing Us

People have varying opinions on technology. Some people feel that the positives outway the negatives when it comes to technology; while others feel the exact opposite. Nicholas Carr argues in his essay “Is Google Making us stupid”, that people are getting overly dependent on technology. Carr explains how people are so influenced by technology, that they cannot form their own ideas. Gladstone and Neufeld in “The Influencing Machine” believe that people might seem too dependent on technology but that people shouldn’t worry so much about it, because in the past the same thing happened with writing and television. I lean towards agreeing more with Gladstone and Neufeld; I feel like even though things are changing because of technology that doesn’t necessarily mean that technology is a bad thing.

Carr uses many examples to try and show the reader why they should actually fear the internet. Carr discusses the difficulties him and others started having while they read. He feels this is because of the formatting and style that articles online are posted. When things are posted online they’re short and straight to the point because they don’t want to lose people’s attention; Which makes Carr feel like that’s why he is unable to focus on longer piece of writing, like newspaper articles or novels. Another thing pointed out is that today people read differently than people in the past which may cause people to change their thinking. Carr points this fact out when he says “We may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.”(Carr 318). Some people agree with Carr’s point and feel that this type of change in thinking is something that should be feared.

Gladstone and Neufeld take the approach to try and explain how people are changing because of technology, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. They discuss how people are getting attached to things like their phones and computers but that people should not get worried because people are going to change with technology. Carr and other naysayers to technology are pointed out in their essays and their concerns are taken into account; instead of disagreeing with people Gladstone and Neifeld agree that technology is shaping minds, but people's minds do get shaped when things are changing. People reacted the same way as Carr over technology as simple as writing, and the television. It may be an overreaction; but every time something substantial comes out, that’s how some people are going to act. It’ s mentioned in Gladstone and Neufeld’s essay that it may be harder for people over the age of 35 to adapt to new technologies, which is probably why Carr’s approach to technology is so skeptical. Over time everyone’s minds are changing because of the new inventions and the different types of technology, so people should realize that they can’t fix this problem and just go with the general flow of things.

Gladstone and Neufeld’s approach to technology is much more rational and logical than Carr’s in my opinion because there is no reason people should fear technological advances. The mind is always being shaped by technology and that should be accepted. Gladstone and Neufeld point out how they can understand where people are coming from, but don’t really think it’s a problem, which I support. I think that naysayers will think that even though this happened in the past with items such as the television it’s different because of how it’s changing everything; everybody's on there phone and you can get information at the touch of a button. The world changes because of inventions like the internet, which is should; so instead of people being worried about big changes, they should embrace them.