Topic > Influence of the Internet and the Benefits of Reading and Writing Online

From ordering a pizza to reading the news, it is undeniable that the Internet has irrevocably changed everyday life. Shaped by information architecture, the Internet has changed the way we read, write, and think. Scholars have expressed different opinions on how the Internet is changing reading and writing conventions. In "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet undermines our ability to think deeply and problem-solve. In contrast, in “Reading and Writing Online, Rather than in Decline,” Kathleen Fitzpatrick argues that the Internet is an ideal platform that fosters new, creative ways of reading, writing, and interacting that can facilitate academic discourse. While Carr's warning about the risk of diminishing our capacity for deep and critical thinking is valid, it is clear that the Internet is an immensely valuable platform for academic discourse and the broad sharing of information that we, as users, need to benefit from advantage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr explains how reading on the Internet is changing the way we think by inhibiting our ability to think deeply. Carr refers to his own experience, suggesting that he is no longer able to immerse himself in long books or articles as his concentration decreases after reading a few pages (Carr, 2008). Carr uses vivid metaphors to illustrate this lack of ability for deep thought, stating, “I was once a diver in the sea of ​​words. Now I speed along the surface like a boy on a jet ski” (Carr, 2008). While it is clear that reading in the digital age carries risks, Carr fails to consider the many benefits of reading online. When the written language came into being, it reduced our memory capacity, but despite this, the written language has proven to be of great value. Likewise, although the proliferation of online reading may reduce the contributions of the written language, it will inevitably bring a number of benefits but also risks. Fitzpatrick addresses this fear in “Reading and Writing Online, Rather than in Decline.” Fitzpatrick suggests that “new technologies are perpetually imagined not simply as the enemy of established systems, but actually as a direct threat to the essence of what it means to be human” (Fitzpatrick, 2012). This succinctly highlights the flaw in Carr's argument in "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" as it is limited by its bias in favor of traditional Western culture which idealizes the written language as superior. For scholars like Carr, good reading is limited to reading books. Fitzpatrick convincingly criticizes this narrow view of what constitutes reading and argues that reading online is still good reading because it involves engagement with the text. Fitzpatrick argues that “click and browse” processes emphasize reading as “an active process of meaning making” (Fitzpatrick, 2012). Furthermore, Fitzpatrick argues that online reading meets a definition of reading in which reading is not simply “a direct means of downloading an author's constructed meaning into the reader's brain, but has always been a form of negotiating meaning through a process complex, and often selective, process of interpretation” (Fitzpatrick, 2012). Furthermore, Fitzpatrick proposes that the advantage of reading in the digital age is that digital platforms allow reading to be a communal rather than individual process. Digital platforms such as blogs facilitate.