Also, he points out that he loses concentration when he reads. He starts to read something and after two pages, he looks for something different to do because he is too bored and lazy to finish his reading. He notes, “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” (534) Carr is blaming the Web as a cause of losing his concentration and struggling with reading.
Moreover, Carr writes not only he but his friends have a problem concentrating on long writing. He writes, “When I mention my troubles with reading to my friends – many say they are having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (534) People lose their abilities to read and more important to think because of using the Internet. One of his friends says, “I can’t read War And Peace anymore, he admitted. I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it."(534) Internet takes the power over the people, so they cannot read deeply. Reading is not the pleasure as it used to be it becomes a struggle for many people.
Additionally, Carr refers to the work of developmental psychologist Maryanne Wolf.
She says, “Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that from when we read deeply and without distractions, remains largely disengaged.” (535) She worries that people often have a problem with interpretation. It is difficult for them to read long material and focus on reading between the lines.
Carr also refers to James Olds, a professor of neuroscience. He says, “Even the adult mind is very plastic. Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. The brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”(536) Olds says that it depend on how people use their brain. If they practice reading, they will avoid skimming long articles.
On the other hand, Gomez-Pena believes that Mexican culture is changed because of the influence of technology. First, he points out the changes in Mexican culture when he writes about his collaborator Roberto Sifuentes and how they were work together on the Net. Gomez-Pena writes, “I must say, is a Mexican cultural prejudice – if I don’t know you in person, I don’t really care to talk with you.” (Gomez-Pena 556) He says that Mexicans prefer to meet face-to-face than talking with a stranger online. Technology causes breaks the Mexican’s habit to meet face to face.
Then he writes that many people think that technology is too difficult to understand for Mexicans and Latinos. He writes, “We continue to be manual beings – Homo fabers (man the builder) par excellence, imaginative artisans (not technicians.)” (559) This quote explains that Mexicans’ understanding of the world is political, and poetical, but certainly not scientific.
He also wants to emphasize that many people “Present Mexico as technologically underdeveloped yet culturally and spiritually overdeveloped.” (559) He thinks that technology is complicated and Mexicans might not understand new technologies. Gomez-Pena goes on to show that Mexican culture unfit to use high technology. Gomez-Pena says, “Mexicans have their salsa, painting murals, love poetry, and plotting revolutions in rowdy cafes” (561), so they do not need a technology in their culture.
Furthermore, Gomez-Pena writes about access to technology in Mexico. It is only available for rich people or politicians. As he notes, “In Mexico, the only artists with “access” on the technology are upper class, politically conservative, and uninteresting.”(560) Basically, people from the lower class cannot have a chance to use a new technology because they are unable to afford it.
He says that still in some parts of the country people lack basic infrastructures and public services. He gives an example of his grandma who he bought an electric ionizer. He writes, “She put it in the middle of her bedroom altar and kept it there – unplugged of course – for months” (558) Then the next time he visited her she said that she could truly breathe better. Many Mexicans do not know how high technology products work, or simply they are scare how those products could work so they do not use them.
Next, Gomez-Pena observes that because of the language barrier Mexicans are unable to use high technology. He notes, “The unquestioned lingua franca was of course English, the official language of international communications” (561) It is clear that if Mexicans want to use high technology they are forced to learn English. He says that Mexicans do not participate enough online because they lack information or interest.
In conclusion, Carr’s article referred to the evolution of reading, writing and even thinking habits in an organized manner. Carr shows that people are more dependent on the Internet. He says that the Web takes control over people’s brains and that there are unable to think. However, Gomez-Pena critiques technology as a struggle for those with access and those without. He says that Mexicans do not need any kind of technology to be happy. They are simple people and they are happy with this.
Work Cited
Nancy R. Comley, David Hamilton, Carl H. Klaus, Robert Scholes, Nancy Sommers, Jason Tougaw. "Fields Of Reading." BEDFORS/ST. MARTIN'S. Boston, New York: 829-33.
Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Guillermo Gomez-Pena, The Virtual Barrio @ the other Frontier
