America the Illiterate

There is no denying the massive impact that the Internet has had on the modern world, from research to entertainment, today’s generations are growing up in a vastly different context than their parents did. The internet has “put “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else” and this has caused concern about the intelligence levels of people. Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” contemplates this exact argument as Americans are reading more than ever in history, yet “go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense”. He concludes that Google (and the Internet) has the potential to make us stupid because of the instant answers don’t allow us to delve into problems on our own. 

Chris Hedges and his article “America the Illiterate” take on a more aggressive approach to the fact that Americans specifically need “constant stimulant(s)”. An American himself, his entire article is written in an accusatory tone, illustrating that the majority of the 1^st world population should be considered illiterate because the literate “cope with complexity and [have] the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth.” I am first of all offended as he intends to insult the apparently inevitable person that I am bound to become. I agree that our society as a whole is becoming increasingly passive, as our ability to analyze is becoming corrupt by the multitude of distraction available (Carr), but also speculative because none of his impressive statistics are cited with sources.  I was humored by his comparison when Hedges mentioned that “our brave new world” is a utopia, one filled with superficial leaders similar to the society described in the book by Aldous Huxley. I would be inclined to believe that Carr and Hedges are correct in their general perception of society, however I also think that each individual is becoming increasingly specialized (Adam Smith’s Division of Labour) and that while we may be impatient, this is the type of acceleration and progress that human kind has been striving for for thousands of years. Our efficiency is higher than ever. Change is usually greeted with hostility but it is only a matter of time before these worries are eased when the new becomes normal.