Reading Connection 1 - AJ Peters

I've often noticed students in class lacking the attention needed to focus on the teacher and wandering onto more notable visuals, such as cell phones or the clock. It is possible that they are bored because the teacher drones on and on, or because they were up late last night with a few friends and simply didn’t get enough sleep. But there is a twist to this situation, what if it isn’t the teacher or the lack of sleep, but our new way of handling information from any source.
An article named “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr shed some light on this occurrence, claiming the machines and technology surrounding us affect the way we think and act. The article mentions an experiment done by Frederick Winslow Taylor, where he re-organizes the manufacturing order of the factories workers. “Taylor created a set of precise instructions—an “algorithm,” we might say today—for how each worker should work. Midvale’s employees grumbled about the strict new regime, claiming that it turned them into little more than automatons, but the factory’s productivity soared” (Carr). By using a system that minimized slack time and maximized output, the human machine was born. The artisans that used to craft quality carvings and other trinkets, have been replaced by the autonomous assembly line. What is left of that is valued more so than the mass produced, a sure sign of the peoples need for unique self-perspective. Not only does it affect the physical tendencies of our everyday life, but a new system affects how we think and react.
The next source of inspiration is from a young scientist named Heejung Kim, who has been studying Genetic Acculturation. Her study points to the idea that culture affects the genetic pattern as a human being grows up in that environment. One of her arguments focused on stress and how different cultures affect reaction to stress. "Among certain genotypes, cultural differences are magnified," Kim says. In this way, culture may act to diversify the phenotypes—or behaviors—that accompany certain genetic mutations” (Seed). The argument that Carr makes in his article – that through our culture and the systems and machines used within it change the way we act – points in the same direction as pointed out by Kim. Carr later in the article turns to computers, and their affects on our ways of thinking. “Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles” (Carr). It would seem that the human capacity to read and process has turned into a restless desire to finish rather than follow through.
Could it be possible that the students in class weren’t bored or tired, but were actually processing information quickly, as they would on the net? Kim and Carr would suggest that the way we process information has changed to the point where we rarely delve into what we learn. We receive, we analyze, and we move on.

Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Atlantic. July. 2008. 02 Oct. 2008. <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google>
“The Re-Invisionaries.” Seedmagazine. 2008. 02 Oct. 2008. <http://revminds.seedmagazine.com/revminds/member/heejung_kim/>