How Does Media Affect My Life

How Does Media Affect My Life? The developing industry of media and technology has flourished into a revolution. A revolution in which has embarked on plenty of opportunities for media companies to expand and give people the ability to experience a new wave of media products and communications. The affects in which the author of the novel ‘The Shallows’, Nicholas Carr, discusses throughout his own personal experiences of how media has negatively affected his life and his mentality.

From reading his novel and his insight on what the Internet is really doing to our brains, I was able to contrast what Carr had said to my own perspective and connect it to experience’s I have had similar to his. Through decades, the evolution of technology has cultivated media into something so easily accessible. Thus, creating those using this technology, to be unfocused in our generation and future generations, changing ones behaviour and creating habits due to neuroplasticity, and finally the crave for more technology to meet our generations enthusiastic needs.

In this generation, the media has provided its audiences and purchasers with the opportunities and experiences to broaden their personal horizons. Companies and industries have provided societies and people globally with many chances to explore the World Wide Web. Carr explains his insights of the Internet thoroughly throughout his first chapter ‘Hal and Me’. He explains his involvement with his first ever purchased computer and how he fell in love with the capabilities the machine provided. Carr became so involved with the computer he invested into more computers when they were first released.

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Carr quickly realized what his machine and Internet was actually doing to his brain years later, making him completely unfocused. He noticed specifically when trying to read through a book, and he was not the only one. I think that the media and the Internet have taken away from the generation today, and future generations to come. The Internet has made it impossible for people like myself, to stay focused for a long period of time while reading. There are easier ways to get a hold of readings from the Internet, with websites such as SparkNotes.

Students like myself have used have used the significant source of Sparknotes to gather information about books and articles. The Internet provides a variety of sources and web blogs that help people gather information, and at the same time preventing them from reading an entire book, destroying their focus. It has become a norm today to hop on the Internet and type in a weblog, not providing one with full detail, and skimming through to gain their knowledge. The human brain allows you to discover new experiences and changes in your behaviour. Neuroplacity is responsible for providing us with neural pathways that lead to constant changes.

It is neuroplacity that shapes the way we think on a daily basis. We are sucked into the media in the simplest ways, and we do not realize the major effects that it causes to our mind. The more we involve ourselves with the media technology and Internet, we become more infatuated, as it locks our brains into a certain routine. Carr describes neuroplacity as the “ability in our brain that allows us to adapt to new situations, learn new stuff, and expand our horizons” (Carr, 34) but it is the constant desire to continue the repetition that makes neuroplacity negative aspect in the media spectrum .

When our brain practices certain behaviors continuously, our circuits begin to crave it more. Habits develop such as entering a topic in a search engine on Google or Yahoo. We use search engines to view articles, and access social networks, as we depend on the Internets search engine for our daily dose of communication and media. Therefore, neuroplacity is creating habits that make one crave the Internet and media technology throughout the day in a way that destroys our brain. Enthusiasts celebrate new technology, and the thought of new media being released.

They are people who believe that the Internet is only making our culture better in a positive way, indicating it is “a ‘democratization’ of culture” (Carr, 2). Globally our culture today has become full of enthusiasts, who crave the thought of new media and technology. It is common for people to be excited about the latest phones being released and new updates on websites. Our technology has changed drastically over decades, creating a more convenient way to communicate, share and receive information.

Carr describes the extreme change in the way we now look at time. Clocks have become more accurate than ever before, as they were only put into places such as town halls, churches, and palaces (Carr, 43). Today, they are available for every home, hand held, and accessible through electronic devices. Carr describes the mechanical clock transformation as changing the way we see ourselves (Carr, 43). Today’s technology has helped people globally communicate with one another, shop online, search and share their own information.

The media phenomenon has become so easily accessible that people now crave for more information, and want the latest technology. Skeptics predicted that this phenomenon would dumb down our culture globally. With the evidence supported by Carr, I do not believe that our culture is ‘dumb downed’ by the media, but it has provided us with more varieties of sources and technology to explore other possibilities. I do agree that the media has created a negative effect on how individuals perceive things now that media has taken over.

Clocks went from only being in town halls, churches, and palaces. They are now easily accessible on a smart phone, because of the demand of new, and better technology. More technology and media are being produced today, to live up to our global expectations. The evolution of media has constructed human’s thoughts in such a way that adapts to the current society of media. Current civilization has developed into such a technological state in which our society is dependent on. Human behaviors have taken a negative effect from the media in the sense that we are processing so much information.

Carr allows us to observe the effects that the Internet and current media have on neuroplacity in the human mind. Media and technology industries are achieving success in the demands of new media products and sources. Global societies have depended on the Internet, and other convenient technologies to get by on a daily basis. Carr provides information that proves the Internet has stolen individual’s ability to focus. Our generation’s ability to concentrate will only worsen with the newly released sources and media products, because of the hunger for new information.

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