Draft 1 400-500 words

What has the internet done to people? This is a question that many people wonder about because of the effects the internet or technology as a whole has had on us in recent times. Technology has continued to grow everyday and everyday we adapt to that and it is taking over and becoming a part of our lives. The way it is affecting how we behave and act brings up some major concerns and it is something many people talk about. I believe that technology has had some impacts on us in our lives both negatively and positively. Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT, wrote her “Empathy Diaries” and in that writing she discusses the effects she believes technology has had on us. She mainly focuses on how technology has had a negative impact on conversation and empathy in humans. Similarly to what Turkle discusses, Nicholas Carr in, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, talks about what google has done to us. He states how he believes the internet and google more specifically is taking away from us doing any thinking on our own. Technology as a whole is changing us and causing us to behave, think and even have conversation all differently both positively and negatively.

Modern technology is causing us humans to not only not be able to think for ourselves but also is causing us to lack skills like having and holding a conversation. Technology has changed the way we can talk to people, “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other. For on our screens, we are tempted to present ourselves as we would like to be” (Turkle 344). Turkle is explaining how our conversations are changing because of how technology has affected us. It is causing us to think differently and affects our ability to have conversation. Similar to her thoughts, Nicholas Carr, states “I can feel it too. 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. My mind isn’t going–so far as I can tell–but it’s changing.” (Carr 1). The way they state that we hide from conversation and that our minds are being messed around with is the cause of what technology has on us and not in a good way. We should be able to do these simple life skills like have a conversation and not feel like our mind is changing. Technology is increasing in power and is changing us.

Draft 2 800 words

What has the internet done to people? This is a question that many people wonder about because of the effects the internet or technology as a whole has had on us in recent times. Our lives have been changing and evolving with the “new modern technology.” It is strange that this is the way we talk about the internet and technology. We are just living in a world where the internet is everything and does anything for us. Technology has continued to grow every day, and every day we adapt to that, and it is taking over and becoming a part of our lives. The way it is affecting how we behave, and act brings up some major concerns and it is something many people talk about. Although the growth technology has can and is certainly a great thing for the world it can also be a negative. Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT, wrote “The Empathy Diaries” and Nicholas Carr wrote “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, talk on this matter and in both of their writings they both express their thoughts and feelings towards how technology has affected our lives in many different ways. I believe that technology has had some impacts on us in our lives both negatively and positively, that are both good for some people but for others it is bad. Some positives that it has on us is how it allows us to take our learning to a new level, it advances how much we can learn and know. There are negatives however, such as the internet takes away from people learning on their own. For me personally the internet has a negative effect on me with my use of social media. For example, when I should be working on homework or a paper I have for a class, I can easily get distracted by phone and scroll on social media. For some people, they grow too fast with technology, and they cannot control themselves and they fall into the trap of using it too much. They use technology and only use that: they fail to have the simple life skills everyone needs. Technology as a whole is changing us and causing us to behave, think and even have conversations differently both positively and negatively.
Modern technology is causing us humans to not only not be able to think for ourselves but also is causing us to lack skills like having and holding a conversation. Sherry Turkle says in her writing “The Empathy Diaries”, how the effects she believes technology has had on us. She mainly focuses on how technology has had a negative impact on conversation and empathy in humans. Technology has changed the way we can talk to people, “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other. For on our screens, we are tempted to present ourselves as we would like to be” (Turkle 344). Turkle is explaining how our conversations are changing because of how technology has affected us. It is causing us to think differently and affects our ability to have conversations. Similarly to what Turkle discusses, Nicholas Carr in, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, talks about what Google has done to us. He states how he believes the internet and Google more specifically is taking away from us doing any thinking on our own. “I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances–literary types, most of them–many say they’re having similar experiences. The more we use the web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (Carr 2). Even our ability to read and write is being negatively affected. I can personally say it has negatively affected the way I read. The way they state that we hide from conversations and that our minds are being messed around with is the cause of what technology has on us and not in a good way. I can agree with what they talk about as I feel I have “hid from conversation” before. It is not a easy thing to do now, being able to talk face to face with someone when all we do now is communicate through our phones. However we should be able to do these simple life skills like have a conversation and not feel like our mind is changing. Technology is increasing in power and is changing us.

Draft 3 1200 words

Cam Kearney
Professor Jesse Miller
English 110
1 November 2024
Is Technology Becoming Part of Us?
What has the internet done to people? This is a question that many people wonder about because of the effects the internet or technology as a whole has had on us in recent times. Our lives have been changing and evolving with the “new modern technology.” It is strange that this is the way we talk about the internet and technology. We are just living in a world where the internet is everything and does anything for us. Technology has continued to grow every day, and every day we adapt to that, and it is taking over and becoming a part of our lives. The way it is affecting how we behave, and act brings up some major concerns and it is something many people talk about. Although the growth technology has can and is certainly a great thing for the world it can also be a negative. Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT, wrote “The Empathy Diaries” and Nicholas Carr wrote “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, talk on this matter and in both of their writings they both express their thoughts and feelings towards how technology has affected our lives in many different ways. I believe that technology has had some impacts on us in our lives both negatively and positively, that are both good for some people but for others it is bad. Some positives that it has on us is how it allows us to take our learning to a new level, it advances how much we can learn and know. There are negatives however, such as the internet takes away from people learning on their own. For me personally the internet has a negative effect on me with my use of social media. For example, when I should be working on homework or a paper I have for a class, I can easily get distracted by phone and scroll on social media. For some people, they grow too fast with technology, and they cannot control themselves and they fall into the trap of using it too much. They use technology and only use that: they fail to have the simple life skills everyone needs. Technology as a whole is changing us and causing us to behave, think and even have conversations differently both positively and negatively.
Modern technology is causing us humans to not only not be able to think for ourselves but also is causing us to lack skills like having and holding a conversation. Sherry Turkle says in her writing “The Empathy Diaries”, how the effects she believes technology has had on us. She mainly focuses on how technology has had a negative impact on conversation and empathy in humans. Technology has changed the way we can talk to people, “But these days we find ways around conversation. We hide from each other even as we’re constantly connected to each other. For on our screens, we are tempted to present ourselves as we would like to be” (Turkle 344). Turkle is explaining how our conversations are changing because of how technology has affected us. It is causing us to think differently and affects our ability to have conversations. Similarly to what Turkle discusses, Nicholas Carr in, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, talks about what Google has done to us. He states how he believes the internet and Google more specifically is taking away from us doing any thinking on our own. “I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances–literary types, most of them–many say they’re having similar experiences. The more we use the web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (Carr 2). Even our ability to read and write is being negatively affected. I can personally say it has negatively affected the way I read. The way they state that we hide from conversations and that our minds are being messed around with is the cause of what technology has on us and not in a good way. I can agree with what they talk about as I feel I have “hid from conversation” before. It is not a easy thing to do now, being able to talk face to face with someone when all we do now is communicate through our phones. However we should be able to do these simple life skills like have a conversation and not feel like our mind is changing. Technology is increasing in power and is changing us.
Our mind, the main part of our lives, is changing. It is growing and adapting with the evolution of technology. Parts of our minds can adapt to the new changes and do just fine using technology to help. The other parts of our mind let technology completely take over. I feel that in our minds we do control ourselves for the most part, but we have been allowing the internet to overtake our abilities at some points. It has become almost an addiction, people get stuck with using the internet for everything and they cannot operate by themselves. We use the internet as a way to do things the “easy way”, as people would call it. When doing homework and you have a question you do not know, what is the response everyone does? We look it up and Google will give us the answer just like that. Now that is a problem because even though it can be helpful, it takes away from us being able to find the answer on our own. I do this too, yes I do turn to Google to look up and answer when I do not know it. I know that it is not the right thing I should be doing, but this is what technology has done. We use it and we do not think for ourselves, we allow the internet to just give us what we are looking for. Carr says, “I can feel it too. 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. My mind isn’t going–so far as I can tell–but it’s changing.” (Carr 1). Carr also feels that his mind has been changing, and has begun to become less sophisticated and working on its own. We let the internet become a part of our minds. Similarly to Carr, Turkle talks about Holbrooke school. She was invited there and quotes a thirteen year old saying “When you program a computer, you put a little piece of your mind into the computer’s mind and you come to see yourself differently.” (Turkle 345). They feel and think similarly on the fact that our minds are becoming less and less able to function on their own. The internet is controlling us and becoming a part of us.
So what has technology come to? It has taken our lives and made them simpler and easy, yet has taken away our life skills at the same time. As for what Turkle and Carr’s thoughts are on what technology has done to us I almost fully agree with them. If we continue at this rate of allowing technology to control our every move we make when we use the internet we will never get up to the standard we need to be at. Reading, writing, and talking are basic human skills everyone needs to have to live. They are being affected negatively and not in a growing way that we need them to be. Therefore, I believe at the end of the day people need to start learning a new way of how we let the internet in our lives. What we let it do for us and what we allow it do control for us. All that can be done so we can continue to grow in the right direction with technology along us, not with technology ahead and controlling us.